Where Dreams Turn Into Nightmares
by ms-nightfury
Summary: Dipper Pines is willing to do anything for his twin sister Mabel. Even if it means traveling into an alternate dimension with someone he barely trusts to get her back.
1. What Doesn't Kill You

_Author's Note_

 _Hey everyone!_

 _For everyone who is new to this story, I first started writing it shortly after Not What He Seems first aired. Meaning that A Tale of Two Stans had not come out yet, and I didn't know that Grunkle Stan started going by Ford's name after he disappeared into the portal. One of the downsides of writing during a hiatus, I suppose! Because of this, I referred to Grunkle Stan as Stanford and Grunkle Ford as Stanley. I tried explaining this in a later chapter, mainly because it seemed to late to me to change anything. I just wanted to get rid of any confusion over the Stan-naming issue!_

 _That's about it! I really hope you enjoy my story!_

* * *

It all happened so fast.

The portal… The explosion… Dipper Pines remembers every second of it. And he probably will for the rest of his life.

He remembered waking up after the explosion angry. How could his grunkle lie to him? How could his twin, Mabel, side with Grunkle Stan? How had everything gone from amazing to terrible in the blink of an eye?

Suddenly, Dipper saw a shadow walk out of the portal. The shadow took hold of one of the journals which lay on the ground, and Dipper stared in shock as he noticed that the shadow had six fingers.

"What?" Dipper asked incredulously. "Who is that?"

Dipper watched as Stan rose up and stared at the shadow in disbelief. "The author of the journals," Stan breathed. "My brother. Stanley Pines."

And with that, the shadow pulled off the bandana covering his face. It was like seeing double. The man with six fingers looked exactly like his Grunkle, only much younger.

'Whoa…" Dipper was in shock, but he was not alone. Mabel and Soos the handyman were staring at Stanley with their mouths agape.

Stanley walked over to Stanford, staring at his brother momentarily before Stanford enveloped him in a bone-crushing hug. Stanley pushed him away, yelling, "How could you? How could you restart the portal?"

"Stanley… I was… I was only doing what I thought was best…"

"Save the excuses. We have to keep it under control."

As Stanley and Stanford walked over to the computer, Dipper turned on his twin. "Mabel!" He yelled, unable to contain his rage any longer. "What was that back there? How can you still trust Stan after all the lies he's fed us? Are you crazy?!"

"Dipper-"Mabel started, but Dipper cut her off again.

"What if something worse had happened? The world almost ended because you didn't have enough sense to shut down the portal!" He turned away, trying to maintain his composure. "I thought it was us against the world. I guess… I guess I can't trust anyone."

Mabel gasped, shock and tears forming in her eyes. She turned away, beginning to cry. Dipper looked at her out of the corner of his eye, his anger beginning to soften. Then his rage returned and he turned his back to her, hands balled into fists at his sides.

Suddenly, a bright light shone from the portal. Energy pulsed out of it, weak at first but growing much stronger.

"Everyone get back!" Stanley yelled. "The portal's reactivated!"

Dipper ran to the basement wall largely shielded by Soos. He shut his eyes, waiting for the world to end, but what he heard was far worse.

"DIPPER!"

His head shot up, as he saw his twin sister being pulled into the portal's gravitational pull. He saw a strange black object reach out and grab Mabel's leg, which terrified her into screaming.

"MABEL!" Dipper lunged forward to try and grab Mabel, but he was stopped by Soos's big, beefy arm.

"Dude, don't do it! We've gotta keep you safe!" Soos yelled over the whirring of the portal.

"Soos, we've gotta get Mabel!" Dipper yelled in desperation.

Suddenly, the portal began to overheat and emit a bright blue light, just like what had happened before. Through the light, Dipper got one last look at his sister's face, frozen in terror, before she disappeared into the portal. The light grew more intense, growing and building until it was sucked into the portal. Dipper looked behind him and saw Stanley with his hand firmly pressed on the emergency shut-off switch. With that, everyone in the room that was in the portal's pull was dropped to the ground, and the portal itself became dark and crashed to the ground.

Dipper knew the portal was destroyed, but all he could see was that bright light and his sister's face, even after he passed out.

…

"Dipper! C'mon, kid, snap out of it!" Stanford's voice slowly found its way through Dipper's subconscious. When he opened his eyes, he saw his great-uncle and Soos standing directly above him, and he saw Stanley standing off to the side.

But to his dismay, the one face he really needed to see was nowhere to be found.

"What-"Slowly Dipper came to remember all that had happened before. "Where's Mabel?"

Stanford sighed, tiredness and sadness creeping through his face. "Look, Dipper… She… Oh God, I'm so sorry, Dipper…"

Dipper stared blankly at the wreckage of the portal, all the color draining from his face. "No…" he murmured, refusing to believe he had lost Mabel. He shot up and ran to what was left of the portal, digging through the rubble for a small shred of hope that Mabel was still here with him.

While he dug, he muttered to himself in a low voice, "No. Nononononononono."

"Kid, it's no use. She's gone." Stanford yelled to get Dipper out of his stupor. "Mabel's gone."

Dipper sat on his knees, staring at the ground while the tears clouded his vision. He wiped them away slowly, turning to look at his Grunkle with rage slowly growing in his chest.

"YOU!" He screamed, lunging at his uncle before Soos grabbed him and held him back. Dipper continued to struggle against Soos's weight, screaming at Stanford. "This is YOUR fault! If you had never built this stupid portal, Mabel would still be here!"

"Hey, kid," Stanford tried to interject, "Listen for a sec-"

"No!" Dipper stopped trying to attack Stanford and shook himself away from Soos's grip. He looked his Grunkle straight in the eye, anger burning white-hot behind his eyes. "She trusted you! She trusted you and look what happened!"

Stan watched Dipper closely and didn't try to stop him. After all, he knew exactly what Dipper was feeling. He had felt the same way thirty years ago when his twin was sucked into that portal.

Dipper breathed heavily, his anger controlling everything he said and did. He turned his attention to Stanley. "You. You were inside that portal, right?"

"Yes, child." Stanley's serious gaze bore through Dipper's rage. "For thirty years."

"Then can't you find some way to get the portal running again so we can get Mabel back?"

"No. That is far too dangerous for both her and us."

Stanford, who had been focusing his attention on the ground, lifted his head to look at Stanley, with fear in his eyes. "Why is it dangerous for her?"

Stanley sighed, rubbing the bridge of his nose with one hand. "Look, I'm gonna give it to you straight. Yeah, I was in that portal for a long time, but I was well prepared to handle the horrors of the Dreamscape."

"The Dreamscape?" Dipper asked in confusion.

"Yes. That's the place which lies on the other side of the portal. It's brutal in there, kid. I'm a lot stronger than your sister is. I was able to barely survive in there for thirty years, but… I'd give your sister a few hours in there, maybe the rest of the day.

"Look, the point is, I'd prepare myself for the worst, both of you. There's a very real chance that that little girl is already-"

"Don't say it!" Dipper said in a strangled voice. "She's not dead. I know she's not. I know…" This time Dipper didn't bother wiping the tears away when they clouded his vision. They kept coming until they overtook him completely. Dipper collapsed to the cement floor, his body racked with violent sobs.

Stanford watched his nephew with pain in his heart. No twelve-year-old should ever have to see his sister taken away from him. Suddenly, he walked to Stanley, with newfound determination. "Stanley, can't we use the energy from the height-altering crystals and the other gems around town to keep the portal open safely?"

Stanley opened his mouth to refuse, but then he realized there was some sense behind it. He rubbed his stubble and said hesitantly, "Well… I suppose if we found enough… there could be a chance…"

Dipper leapt to his feet and joined the older Pines' twins. He wiped the remaining tears away and there was a small shred of hope slowly growing inside of him. "Really?" He said hopefully. "There could be a chance for us to save her?"

Stanley spoke hesitantly when he responded. "It's a very slim chance, but… yes."

"Then we have to go now!" Dipper rushed to the elevator, waving his hand for the twins and Soos to join him. "We have to get to her!"

"Look, kid…" Stanford said, sighing.

"C'mon!"

All of them hesitated, but they followed Dipper into the elevator.

…

About an hour later Dipper, Stanford, Stanley, and Soos returned, each of them clutching massive armfuls of multicolored crystals. They handed their crystals to Stanley, who brought them to a tall chamber in the back of the control center. Once he had placed them inside, he shut the chamber door and hit a switch on the main control panel. The four circles surrounding where the portal had once been began to glow that same brilliant blue which had engulfed the whole town of Gravity Falls earlier that evening. They sparked a chain reaction, creating a circle in between them that shone with all the colors of the rainbow.

"Wait." Dipper asked, furrowing his brow in confusion. "How is that possible? The portal exploded."

"The portal that exploded was only one piece of the puzzle." Stanley said. "Because we have the other four pieces, the inner piece can be created on its own." He grinned. "Man, it's been so long since I've worked on this kind of tech."

"You like my remodeling, Stan?" Stanford chuckled.

"Nah, it's just very old-school. I could've built this in my sleep, Ford." Stanley laughed, bracing himself as Stanford punched him in the arm.

Dipper watched them in amazement. It was so strange, how similar Stanley and Stanford were to him and Mabel. Dipper turned his head, trying not to think about Mabel.

"Alright, Stanley, I'm ready!" Dipper started toward the portal, but was once again stopped by Soos's huge arm.

"Cool it, dude. There's something you need to know." Soos said cautiously.

Dipper groaned. He knew Soos loved Stanford, but did he always have to get in Dipper's way?

"Yeah." Stanley looked down at Dipper with a hard, serious stare that made Dipper's insides knot. "Dipper, while the portal is running right now, it's not strong enough for too many people to go in. And I know you're not strong enough to go in there alone. So we're gonna send Stanford in there with you. He's the only one strong enough to physically make the journey."

"What?" Dipper yelled. "He's the reason Mabel's in there! We can't trust him to go in there and rescue her!" Dipper gave Stanford, who was looking sadly at him, a glare that could have stricken fear into Manly Dan himself. "Why can't you go, Stanley?"

Stanley sighed and leaned against the control panel. "Kid, the Dreamscape… it does something to people. Something that makes them feel not quite… human. I'm not strong enough to go back in there."

"Wait. If regular people can't survive in the Dreamscape, then how are we supposed to survive long enough to get to Mabel?"

Stanley handed a strange black cloth that had a silky feel to it and a metallic box to both Dipper and Stanford. "That cloak will shield you from most of the Dreamscape's effects. Just don't stay in there too long. And this device-"Stanley pointed at the metal box in Stanford's hand. "It has many functions. The first is for me to communicate with you while you're in there. It also detects human life other than your own. It will help you find your sister."

Stanford looked down at Dipper with a tired smile on his face. "What do you think, kid?" he chuckled. "Can we do this?"

Dipper looked at the ground, uttering little more than a growl out of his mouth.

The two of them went to go into the portal chamber, but Dipper was stopped by Stanley's hand grabbing his arm.

"Listen, Dipper. Be very careful in there. There's a monster that lives beyond that portal. I helped put it and its many minions at bay before I left, but I fear it has grown strong beyond control. That thing that pulled your sister into the portal… That was not merely an optical illusion. The monster may be up to something horrific, and we cannot let it gain strength. Just beware. Please!"

"of course." Dipper's mind was racing. Could this demon be the one that had haunted Gravity Falls and the Pines family all summer, who was known only as Bill Cipher? And if so, what could he be planning and how much power could he have by now? Simply the thought made Dipper shudder.

He stepped into the portal chamber and took his place next to Stanford.

"Are we ready?" Stanley yelled.

Both Dipper and Stanford nodded.

"Be careful, dudes!" Soos said, clutching a bag of chips he had bought while they were looking for the crystals.

Dipper raised his head high, staring at the portal. He examined every aspect of the room they were in and tried to remember it all. He wanted to savor what the ground felt like under his feet, because who knew what the ground in the Dreamscape would be like, if there even was a ground at all.

"Good luck," Stanley said determinedly. He then pulled down the activation switch with all the strength he had left.

Dipper felt his feet leave the ground, and his eyes were flooded with the bright blue light protruding from the portal. He was yanked forward very suddenly, as if someone had tied a string around his waist and pulled hard.

Dipper closed his eyes as he was pulled further into the portal. "I'm coming for you, Mabel," he murmured. "I promise."

And with that, the bright light intensified as he and Stanford were pulled into the Dreamscape and their home, the Mystery Shack, and their friends became nothing but a very distant memory.


	2. Through the Portal

Light.

The first thing Dipper saw was light.

Even with his eyes closed, it blinded him. He could feel it on his skin, see it through his eyelids. A big, bright, light.

He felt himself floating, slowly at first, but moving steadily faster. The light faded as he fell. He opened his eyes and saw himself falling fast toward an endless black abyss. Dipper opened his mouth, preparing to scream, but a strong, wrinkled hand got to him before he could.

Stanford stood on his hands and knees on the edge of a massive cliff. He looked tired, worn down, but he held onto Dipper's hand as if his life depended on it. He pulled Dipper over the edge of the cliff with all the strength he had left. After he was sure Dipper was safe, his muscles gave out and he collapsed onto the ground.

Once Dipper was back on solid ground, he rolled onto his back and stared at the sky, trying to catch his breath. It didn't really help much. The sky was a dismal gray; looking at it seemed to drain any happiness from Dipper. Not that there was much happiness in him to begin with.

Once some of the shock had worn off, he stood up and looked around. Most of the land surrounding him was barren wasteland, with any signs of civilization burned and grazed to the ground. Some of it was still giving off light smoke, as if it had just been demolished about an hour ago.

Out of the corner of his eye, Dipper noticed Stanford rising to his feet next to him. "You okay, kid?" Stanford asked, placing a hand on Dipper's shoulder. "That was quite a fall you had."

Dipper shrugged away from Stanford's grip. "We have to get moving," he said urgently. "There's no way Mabel can survive in a place like this."

The gray box in Stanford's hand began to buzz with static, and from within it a voice could be weakly heard. Stanley's voice. "Dipper! Ford! Do you read me?"

Stanford raised the box so he and Dipper could hear. "Loud and clear, brother," he said.

"Good. Now, I've got some readings on where the girl may be, and-"

"Where?" Dipper interjected.

"That's the issue. I know every inch of the Dreamscape, and she's in a very unsafe and very suspicious place. The Center Castle."

"Wait, what do you mean, suspicious?" Stanford's brow furrowed in confusion.

"See, here's the problem. If Mabel had been sucked in accidentally, like I was, she would have ended up someplace completely random, nowhere near the Heart of the Dreamscape. If my assumptions are correct, it was no coincidence that your sister was brought there. They need her for something, God only knows what, and my advice is get to her before they find that something in her."

Dipper quietly began to panic. Mabel was the sweetest and most innocent girl he knew. What could someone in this horrific place possibly want her for?

Stanley's voice cut through Dipper's thoughts once again. "OK, I have to go for a minute. The communicator will help you find Mabel. DO NOT LOSE IT, I cannot emphasize that enough. And remember to wear the cloaks, both of you. They'll protect you."

"Alright, Stanley. Over." Stanford put the cloak over his head and placed the communicator in its pocket. Dipper put on his cloak as well, pulling it close to him like a security blanket, and the two set off into the wasteland.

Dipper and Stanford's journey was not one that was filled with much conversation at first. Stanford tried to liven up the walk, but whenever he tried to initiate conversation, he earned little more than a scowl or a grunt from his nephew. He understood why. Dipper had lost everything that day, and Stanford was largely the reason why. Dipper had every right to hate him; it was rational to assume he would never trust him again.

Up ahead, Dipper noticed something rather strange happening. The air seemed to collapse in on itself, creating a sort of wormhole that emitted a harsh darkness, one that made it hard for Dipper to stay on his feet. A yellow, triangular demon wearing a top hat burst from within the wormhole, laughing vindictively as it closed behind him. Dipper felt an anger and hatred growing inside him, for he recognized the demon as one who had manipulated him and his family all summer- Bill Cipher.

"Pine Tree!" Bill laughed maniacally, as if Dipper's distress was the funniest thing in the entire world. "Didn't think I'd be seeing you here!"

"Bill!" Dipper yelled. "I know you know where she is! Tell me now, or-"

"You are a RIOT, Pine Tree! Do you really think you can hurt me?" He was now laughing so hard, tears were streaming out of his singular eye. "I'm a DEMON, for crying out loud!"

"I don't have time for your games, Bill! What have you done with Mabel?!"

"Geez, re-LAX, Pine Tree! Shooting Star's right here!" The demon snapped his fingers, and Mabel appeared in front of him in a flash of smoke. She was unconscious, but she looked relatively unharmed, aside from a gash on her cheek.

"Mabel!" Dipper ran as fast as his legs could carry him toward his sister. He stretched his arms toward her, ready to grab her, but much to his surprise, Dipper ran right through her. He stared down at his empty arms in shock, and turned to Bill with rage in his eyes.

Bill laughed and snapped his fingers again, making Mabel disappear in the blink of an eye. Dipper's reaction only seemed to please him more. He laughed hysterically as the twelve year old boy screamed in rage and charged toward him, and he shrieked in laughter as Dipper merely passed through him.

"What did you do to her?" Dipper hissed in a venomous tone.

"Oh, don't worry, Pine Tree, I haven't done anything to her... yet." The demon spoke in a voice that Dipper had never heard before. It was evil, it was vindictive, but most of all, it was the voice of someone who was plotting the end of everything.

"You monster! If you so much as touch her, so help me, I will-''

"You'll do what, Pine Tree? Kill me?" Bill had changed tone to a mocking voice. "I'm IMMORTAL, you moron! The only thing that can hurt me is another demon! Face it, you have about as much of a chance of killing me as you do of getting Shooting Star back, kid. Besides, it's not me you should be worrying about. It's my boss."

"Your boss?" Dipper furrowed his brow. What kind of hideous creature could possibly be worse than Bill Cipher, who was basically the devil himself? "What is your boss planning?"

"Sorry, kid. As much as I'd looove to help you out-" Bill rolled his eye sarcastically in Dipper's direction as he spoke. "-I can't. Sayonara, Pine Tree." He created a blue flame in his hand and was about to throw it into the air when he turned back to Dipper. "Man, it must suck that your sister is going to die thinking that you hate her." Bill laughed evilly, throwing the flame into the air and floating into the wormhole that came from it.

Dipper opened his eyes wide and inhaled sharply. He looked around frantically for any sign of Bill, but the triangular demon was nowhere to be found.

"Dipper!" Stanford shouted at him. "Are you OK? What just happened? We were just walking, and out of the blue you just sat down and closed your eyes! What was that?"

Dipper tuned his grunkle out, staring at the spot where Bill had been for a long time. He turned Bill's words over in his head again and again, trying to make sense of them. What was Bill's big plan? Who was Bill's boss? And, most importantly, would Dipper be able to stop Bill before it was too late?

Dipper was finally pulled out of his thoughts by Stan's hand dragging him along as he ran for his life. "Stan, what's going on-" he turned around and what he saw made his blood run cold. Behind them were a dozen or more cat- no, tiger- like creatures running at the speed of lightning. They were as dark as the night, and they looked possessed, with hollow, yellow eyes, and foam dripping from their mouths. Dipper turned to Stanford and shouted, "Hurry hurry HURRY!"

They ran and ran and ran until their legs could carry them no further. But whoever created the creatures chasing them must have forgotten to give them the ability to tire out, as they just kept running and they only seemed to speed up. Dipper and Stan kept running until they came across the base of a cliff within a ravine. This was no ordinary Earth-cliff; it seemed to reach a million miles high and there was no way of climbing up it. As their pursuers raced closer, Dipper and Stan braced themselves, preparing for the end, when a voice called to them from a cave next to them.

"Hey!" the voice called. It was a very deep, manly voice. "C'mon if you don't want to be torn to shreds!"

Without skipping a beat, Dipper and Stanford rushed into the cave and watched the animals from afar. They reached the cliff, and seeing no sign of their targets, they turned around and sprinted into the distance.

In the dim light of the cave, Dipper saw their rescuer, a tall man with short dark hair and a muscular build, forcing some rock away from the wall. The rocks tumbled to the cave floor and gave way to light, and the man gestured for Dipper and Stan to follow him. Once they were out of the cave, they saw a vast forest of gray trees burnt to the ground and towering mountains as far as the eye could see. Dipper saw the man walking away, and Dipper tripped on his own two feet trying to catch up.

Dipper cleared his throat. "So um... thank you for saving us."

The man grunted in acknowledgement, pulling the hood of his cloak over his eyes.

After a silence, Dipper said, "What were those things?"

"They're called the Dreamwolves," the man said in a low voice. "I'd be careful, they're everywhere in this godforsaken dimension."

Dipper kicked a rock that he passed while he walked. "Anyway, I'm Dipper. That-" he pointed at Stan with his thumb, "- is my great uncle Stan."

"Oh really?" The man chuckled. "I had a great uncle way back when. He was a good dude. Oh, I'm Terrence, by the way."

The three reached a door made of solid rock in the middle of a clearing. Terrence knocked three times on its surface, and then knocked another five times. The door swung open almost inaudibly to reveal a barren plateau filled with small shacks and families of all shapes and sizes. It may have looked worthless, but to Dipper it seemed more homey than he would probably ever experience in the Dreamscape.

Terrence laughed at Stan and Dipper, who were staring with their mouths agape. "Welcome to the Remains, gentlemen," he said contently. "My home."


	3. The Ruins

Dipper hated oatmeal. He thought it was possibly the most disgusting thing to ever be created on Earth. His parents had always chastised him for it, and Mabel had silently agreed with him, but Dipper really hated oatmeal.

So imagine his disappointment when he found himself sitting at a massive table in the Ruins with a huge bowl of oatmeal sitting in front of him.

Dipper could barely hear himself think in that room. The table he sat at easily fit two hundred people, although from the looks of it, three hundred were trying to claim a spot. There were children of all ages chasing each other around the table and screaming their heads off. Dipper rolled his eyes, wondering when he would go deaf from all the noise.

From his right. Dipper saw Terrence tap a dirt-streaked glass with his spoon. Soon, everyone calmed down, picked their screaming children up, and began eating. Dipper picked up a spoonful of the brown slop and immediately put it down again, recoiling in disgust.

"Dipper," Stan, who was on Dipper's left, muttered. "Eat your food. We don't want them to kick us out."

"No, it's fine. I get it." Terrence said reassuringly. "I don't like it that much either." He grinned at Dipper, earning a now-rare smile from the twelve-year-old. "This is the only food source we can constantly rely on."

Dipper placed a spoonful of oatmeal in his mouth and fought back the urge to vomit, for Terrence's sake. After all, he had saved them from the Dreamwolves, or whatever they were called.

Once everyone had cleared their plates, Terrence dismissed them, and he took Dipper and Stan on a tour of the Ruins.

"We found this place abandoned," Terrence explained as they weaved between shacks and tents. "There were only 30 of us then, including your brother, Stan. We were on the run from the rulers here, and we needed a place to crash. This was the mot habitable place we could find."

"Why were you on the run?" Dipper asked.

"Well, there's a war going on between us and the ruling class. It's been going on for as long as I've been here. Stanley led some pretty successful charges against the rulers. He was a brilliant strategist. In a way, I'm kinda sad he's gone. But I'm happy he got away from here. Nobody I've ever met has wanted to be here. Not once."

"How did you all get here?" Stan interjected.

"Each of us has a different story. Some were brought here on accident, some on purpose. Like Mitch over there-" Terrence gestured to a big, hairy man talking to a very skinny woman. "-He says one day he was on 42nd street in the Big Apple when a portal opened up out of nowhere and he ended up here, stranded and alone. But Christy here-" He pointed to a dark-haired woman who was leaning against a shack, sharpening a knife. "-She says she got here on accident, but we all know she was tinkering with stuff she wasn't supposed to, and a demon sent her here as punishment. Some people, like Stanley, tried to get here in the name of science, but got abandoned here in the process." Dipper looked at Stan, who was staring at the ground guiltily. "There are a million ways to get here, but only a few ways to leave." Terrence took a cigarette and a lighter from his pocket and began to smoke. Dipper pulled his cloak close to him when a harsh wind began to blow, sending black sand swirling all around the Ruins. They stopped on the edge of a cliff, looking down on the vast Ruins.

"What about you two?" Terrence eyed Dipper and Stan suspiciously. "I don't think I've ever seen a kid transported here before."

"We're here because we lost something," Dipper said cautiously, unsure whether to trust Terrence yet.

"Oh? Do tell." Terrence looked down at Dipper kindly. "C'mon, kid, we're on the same side here."

Dipper thought for a minute before he spoke. "Well, Stan here built a portal to try and rescue Stanley, and my twin sister and I found out." Dipper glared up at Stan angrily. "It worked, but when Stanley came out, something dragged Mabel in. That's why we're here. I have to find her before something happens."

"Wait a minute." Terrence knelt down so he could look Dipper in the eyes. "You said something dragged her here?"

"Yeah." Dipper said. "Like, a big black hand."

Terrence stood back up, fear in his eyes. "Dear God, no," he breathed, "It's happening again." Next thing Dipper knew, Terrence was sprinting back toward the camp, dragging Dipper and Stan along with him.

...

"All hands on deck!" Terrence yelled throughout the camp. "I need everyone watching the Heart!"

The three of them ran all the way to a large one-story building on the edge of the camp. Inside were tons of computers, monitors, and TV screens. Everyone that was available took a seat in front of a screen and began typing furiously. "I need eyes everywhere in the Palace! In the labs, in the kitchen, everywhere!" Terrence barked at them.

"Terrence! What's happening?" Dipper yelled nervously. "Why is this such a big issue to you guys?"

Terrence took Dipper and Stan outside. "Alright guys, you really want to know everything?"

Both of them nodded furiously.

Terrence sighed. "The ruling class here is made up of demons. Demons of all kinds, from all over the universe. The Dreamscape wasn't created naturally. Before it ever existed, the demons resided in other dimensions, terrorizing everything that lived there. After a while, they got bored, so they got together about a thousand years ago and formulated a plan to create a dimension of their own.

"Led by their supreme leader, Diablo, the demons set to work. You've gotta understand, guys, the Dreamscape runs on dreams. Dreams have huge amounts of energy, but this dimension can only run on the power of bad dreams. And dreams were the one thing the demons didn't have. So they began kidnapping people and creatures from other dimensions. They took the people who dreamed the biggest and whose optimism hadn't been destroyed yet. They created a castle where they could experiment on these people using a terrible machine- the Converter.

"The Converter does something terrible to people. It takes their dreams- originally full of happiness, hope, and light- and it turns them into nightmares. It sucks anything hopeful out of people and- if they are exposed to it long enough- it can kill them. Diablo took these dreams and used their immense energy to create what we know today as the Dreamscape.

"But the original dreams could only sustain the dimension for so long. After a thousand years, the Dreamscape has grown weaker. It's beginning to fade. My guess is, Diablo is trying to restore the Dreamscape to its original glory by taking the dreams of today's kids. And we've gotta stop him, because if the Dreamscape fades completely, portals will reopen and send us back home."

Dipper stared at the ground, eyes widened in shock, trying to comprehend what Terrence had just said. "So you're saying if we don't stop Diablo, Mabel will-"

"She'll die if we don't stop this, Dipper." Terrence looked right into Dipper's eyes.

Dipper sucked in a breath and said shakily, "Ok. I want to help you stop him. What should we do?"

"First you guys need a good night's sleep," Terrence said firmly. He led them to a small house deep within the Ruins. Inside were two beds with dirty white sheets and pillowcases. "Then we'll talk."

...

Dipper couldn't sleep at all that night. He laid on his back in bed, listening to the silence, staring up at the ceiling, and thinking. For the entire summer he had been certain that Bill was the only demon in the universe. He had had no idea what danger was really out there, and now Mabel was paying the price for it.

He sat up. He couldn't let Mabel die! He couldn't stay here and wait for something to happen. He needed to get out of here.

Dipper looked over at Stan, who was snoring and clutching his fez like it was a teddy bear. For one split second, Dipper felt a pang of guilt for leaving him behind, but he shook it off and pulled on his sneakers. He silently pulled the metallic box from Stan's jacket, wrapped his cloak around him, and slipped out of the house.

He hiked all the way up to the top of the cliff he had met Terrence on and looked out over the darkness. Dipper sat on a rock and put his head in his hands. "Mabel, where are you?" he sighed hopelessly.

Dipper felt a strong wind stir behind him. All of a sudden, Bill Cipher appeared in front of him, laughing like a maniac. "Does someone need a favor?" he said sadistically.

Dipper glared at Bill, and then sighed. He had a LOT of questions for this evil Dorito.


	4. Behind the Scenes

"What do you want this time, Bill?" Dipper groaned at the triangular demon who was hovering ten feet above him. "A severed head? My wisdom teeth? The left hand of everyone I know?"

"Geez, Pine Tree, I don't need anything from you!" Bill floated backwards a few feet, so he was past the edge of the cliff above the Ruins and was floating in empty space. "How screwed up IS your life, kid?"

Dipper sighed in exasperation. He was beginning to regret even leaving the house he shared with Stan in the first place so he could have avoided this encounter with the dream demon. "Look, Bill, I don't have time for any of your tricks, okay? I just want to find my sister and get out of here."

Much to Dipper's surprise, Bill began to laugh hysterically, rolling around in midair and clutching where his stomach would be. "Oh, that's a good one, Pine Tree!" Bill cried. "You really think you and Shooting Star are getting out of here! That's rich!"

"If you're not going to help me, then-"

"Look, Pine Tree, even if I wanted to help you, I can't. Diablo took my powers because of my failure in your body." Bill narrowed his eye at Dipper. "I only came here to give you something from Diablo."

Dipper rolled his eyes. "What is it?" He chuckled to himself. "A pinky toe? Some flaming tongues or is it something even more disgusting?"

"Calm down, kid, I just wanted to give you this!" Bill snapped his hand and a DVD appeared in Dipper's lap. It had no writing on it whatsoever except for the words Trial 3 written in big black letters on the front.

"What is this?" Dipper lifted his head only to find that he was talking to himself. The dream demon had disappeared into the night. He looked back at the DVD and wrinkled his forehead in confusion. What could possibly be on this DVD? What did Trial 3 mean? It was all so much for Dipper to comprehend.

"Dipper!"

He turned his head to find Stan, Terrence, and a few large men from the Ruins running toward him. "Dipper! Are you crazy, kid? You freaked us out so much!" Stan looked at Dipper with concern, but Dipper turned his attention back to the DVD.

"Dipper, what is that?" Terrence took the DVD from Dipper's hands and examined it closely. He got a grim look on his face. "Dipper, where did you get this?"

"Bill Cipher gave it to me." Dipper looked at everyone with confusion on his face. "He said it was from Diablo."

Terrence's eyes lit up. "This could be the lead we need!" He yelled. "He's trying to trip us up, but we'll show him! C'mon, back to the lab!" He sped off like a rocket and everyone followed. Dipper could see the hope in their eyes, but he knew that they hoped for escape, while Dipper hoped for something else entirely.

...

"Is the DVD ready for watching?" Terrence asked a scientist back at the lab. He had insisted that the DVD be checked for booby traps or spells or anything that could give up their location before they watched it.

"Yes, sir." The scientist, who had beady brown eyes and greasy black hair, handed the DVD to Terrence. "No booby traps or spells."

"Good. C'mon, guys, sit up front with me." Dipper and Stan followed Terrence to the front of the room, where they stood between two computers to watch. Terrence handed a skinny man the DVD, and he ran to the back and put it into the computer connected to the main projector. The big monitor whirred and turned on, showing a strange room on the screen. In the main room, there were at least ten big machines on tables, each whirring and lighting up in a different way. There were monitors for each of the machines, but they weren't lighting up like the big machines were. There was a microphone in the very front, and there was a huge window that showed a different room behind it. In the other room, there was what Dipper assumed was a dentist's chair, with a dozen restraints hanging limply from it and more monitors behind it. Dipper wondered why it seemed so familiar, but then he realized- it reminded him of torture chambers he had seen in movies.

"This must be the Converter," Terrence breathed, and Dipper gasped. He was staring directly at the machine that had created the Dreamscape, the machine that had murdered hundreds of innocent children and taken their nightmares to produce an alternate dimension.

"Hello, puny humans." A deep, almost distorted sounding voice boomed from the monitor. "I am Diablo, your leader. Recently I heard you exchanged one Pines for two others, one strong and one weak."

Dipper balled his hands into fists. Weak? Him? Sure, he had noodle arms, but he was far from weak!

"So I felt we should show you what you are up against. Alvin!" The demon yelled. "Bring me subject 621 now!"

"Yes sir!" A high pitched voice said meekly. The door to the outer room opened with a creak, and a red circular demon entered, pushing in front of him a twelve year old girl wearing a tattered sweater with a key on it. The girl looked thin, with bruises and cuts on her legs and face. Dipper's eyes widened. This was Mabel! This was his twin sister, who used to look so strong, but now looked weary and battered.

"Why does she look so thin?" Dipper asked shakily. "It's only been two days."

"Time passes differently here," Terrence sighed. "The demons made it so time looks like the days here are as long as the days on Earth to trick us, but really, every six Earth hours is one day here. It's been eight days since you arrived here."

Dipper whimpered slightly. Eight days? Who knew how much they had done to Mabel in eight days?

"Are you ready to proceed, subject 621?" Diablo said evilly.

"Whatever you want, poophead," Mabel spat at him in a hoarse voice.

Dipper smiled to himself. Even through everything they had done to her, Mabel still had her rebelliousness and her spunk.

Diablo growled under his breath. "Alright, Alvin, hook her up." The red demon grabbed Mabel and shoved her in the chair. He tied all the restraints around her and put at least ten sensors on her forehead. He took a syringe filled with black liquid from the table next to the chair and stabbed it into Mabel's arm. She flinched and put her hand on her arm to block out the pain, but she soon fell unconscious and slumped against the chair.

"Alvin! Turn the machine on!" Diablo yelled. Alvin jumped and flipped a few switches behind Mabel, and all the monitors came to life, each showing a different image.

"What you are seeing now are all of subject 621's dreams," Diablo explained. Dipper examined the monitors on the screen. He saw Waddles running around in a grassy field, he saw Mabel, Candy, and Grenda having a slumber party, and much to his disgust, he saw Mermando the mermaid combing Mabel's hair and singing to her.

"Now, I have received word via Bill Cipher that subject 621's brother is within your ranks, humans, so I have selected a dream which I think you will find interesting." Diablo's thin black arm reached out and typed a few things onto the keyboard in front of him. One dream was pulled onto all of the monitors, and what Dipper saw onscreen shocked him.

Dipper saw himself with Mabel on every single one of the monitors. They were standing in their shared room in the Mystery Shack, and dream Mabel said, "Dipper, I'm really sorry about what happened in the portal. I just wanted to do what was right."

Dipper flinched as he remembered what had happened just two- no, eight- days earlier. He was admittedly still bitter about what Mabel had done, but honestly, the issue hadn't crossed his mind since she had been taken.

The Dipper in Mabel's dream smiled at Mabel. "It's okay, Mabel. Really. I guess I was just afraid we were all gonna die. I wanted to protect you. Will you forgive me?"

"Of course, Dipping Sauce," Mabel laughed, punching dream Dipper lightly in the arm. Dream Dipper laughed softly, pulling Mabel in for a hug. The real Mabel smiled in her sleep, and Dipper found himself to be smiling too. He hadn't realized exactly why he had been so angry that day, but Mabel's dream really helped him remember.

Diablo laughed deeply. "Oh, how charming," he said mockingly. "What you may not have realized, humans, is that we have modified the Converter since its last use. Now, everything that happens in the dream happens in real life too, or so the subject is led to believe. But any bodily action that occurs actually happens in real time." He flipped a few switches in front of him. "Now, let's put the Converter to work."

Mabel's dream transformed in front of their eyes. Dream Dipper pulled away, causing all the color in the room to fade to black. A sinister grin pulled across dream Dipper's face which caused dream Mabel to back away in fear.

"You should be sorry, Mabel," Dream Dipper said darkly. "You betrayed me back there. You took his side and abandoned me. You should be ashamed of yourself."

"Dipper, no-" Dream Mabel stuttered. Dipper could see the tears joining the fear in her eyes, and it made his stomach tie up in knots.

Dipper saw a knife materialize in dream Dipper's right hand. "You're dead to me, Mabel. As far as I'm concerned, I don't have a sister anymore."

Real-life Mabel squirmed around in her chair as the events of the dream took place. Her face showed the same fear as dream Mabel's face showed as dream Dipper raised the knife over his head, and both Mabels emitted the same blood-curdling shriek when the knife pierced their stomach. Dipper felt the same amount of pain as he saw himself hurt her. He could almost feel the knife twisting in his gut, he felt the same heartbreak she felt. It must have been one of those twin instincts, he figured.

He felt the most pain, though, when he saw the dark red blossoming on Mabel's sweater. She curled around her wound, whimpering in pain. Dipper felt like his heart was being ripped in two. He wanted more than anything to reach through that screen and take Mabel away from that hell.

"Sir?" Alvin said through the window. "She's bleeding pretty badly. Should we stop the simulation?"

Diablo sighed from behind the camera and said, "Fine. Patch her up and start over."

Alvin surrounded Mabel with a purple fire and lifted her through the restraints. He pushed her unconscious body through the door and down the hall.

"Now do you see what we can do?" Diablo said forcefully. "Stop resisting us and let us do our work, or we do to you what we did to subject 621. Understand?" He laughed. "Adieu, humans." A deep, evil laughter filled the room, and the monitor went black.

Everyone in the room was silent. Dipper stared at the ceiling, trying to keep the tears from leaving his eyes. He was suddenly reminded of an event earlier in the summer, when a beast called the Gremloblin was released in the Mystery Shack. The beast had grabbed Mabel while they were trying to defend the house and was trying to show her her worst nightmare. Dipper remembered feeling so helpless, until he realized he could show the Gremloblin its own worst nightmare by showing it a mirror. What had happened then was like what was happening now, only this time there was no mirror and no escape.

He looked up at Terrence, who, much to Dipper's surprise, was wiping away tears of his own. Terrence broke the silence by saying, "We need a counter-attack. I want a strategy by tomorrow Dreamscape-time."

Terrence leaned down and put a hand on Dipper's shoulder. He wiped away the boy's tears with one thumb. "It's okay, Dipper," he said softly. "I promise we'll get Diablo and save your sister."

Dipper smiled through his tears. He looked up at Stan, who was also crying but didn't bother to wipe away his tears. Dipper walked away from Terrence and grabbed Stan's hand. "Mabel would want me to trust you," Dipper said hoarsely. "So I will."

Stan grinned down at Dipper and tightly embraced him. Dipper had seen a lot of things from his great uncle lately, both good and bad, but he realized that he had just been focusing on the bad. He needed to see the good, like Stan trying to get his brother back and saving him from death just four Dreamscape days ago. Finally deciding to trust again, Dipper sighed happily and hugged Stan back.


	5. An Unexpected Guest

Dipper had always considered himself to be smart for his age. He knew everyone else knew it too. He knew people talked about him behind his back when he was always the first to raise his hand in class. But he had never cared. Why should he? They just couldn't comprehend things like he could. That was something Dipper always prided himself in. He always knew how to solve any problem given to him.

But when Dipper found himself sitting at a table in the main hall of the Ruins with a dozen men who could probably assemble an entire army in an hour and looked and talked much smarter than him, he felt like of his classmates: dumb and useless.

"All right, men," Terrence shouted above the dull buzz of conversation that took place at the table. "I asked you guys to have a plan ready for me half a day ago, and here I am, still without the slightest idea as to what to do. C'mon, guys! Give me something great!"

"Wait." A large man with thick glasses boomed from his seat across from Dipper. "When you said half a day ago, did you mean in Earth-time, or in Dreamscape-time?"

Terrence sighed and rubbed his temples. "Travis, which dimension are we in?"

"Um, the Dreamscape, sir..."

"Then WHICH TIME DO YOU THINK I MEANT?" Terrence yelled, causing everyone at the table to jump in their seats. "Get back to work or I'll personally kick your ass to the Center Castle myself!"

Travis lowered his head silently and began scribbling something onto a scrap sheet of paper. Dipper snickered to himself. It made him feel good to know that at least he wasn't the dumbest person here.

"Now that we've cleared that up..." Terrence took a small remote out of his pocket and aimed it at the monitor in front of the table. It flickered to life, revealing an image on the screen of the most intricate palace Dipper had ever seen. It shone a brilliant white, and it was surrounded by dozens of pillars and towers. On each of the towers there were at least ten demons standing guard, waiting for even the slightest trace of an intruder.

"This is the Center Castle. It's home to over a thousand demons with some of the most advanced technology the Dreamscape has to offer, like the Converter. It's also home to the largest prison in the entire dimensional system, which is where they are keeping their test subjects for the Converter."

"Or where they're keeping their corpses," a tall, dark haired man whispered to a shorter man a few chairs away from Dipper. They chuckled quietly to themselves, but not quietly enough for everyone else at the table to hear.

"Do you think this is a joke or something?" Dipper asked angrily. "My twin sister is in there. I want to see her again. And I bet you want to go home again, right?" His breathing quickened out of the immense anger he was feeling. "Take it seriously." He felt Stan's left arm slip around his shoulders, and he leaned in closer, ignoring all the eyes that were trained on him and widened in shock.

"Well said, Dipper." Terrence smiled at Dipper before turning his attention to the two men in the back. "Keith, Rich, I hope you realize just how serious this is. We are trying to get home here. We're also trying to get those innocent kids like Dipper's sister back to their families before they become 'corpses.' So if you want to joke about this, do it as far away from us as possible. Understood?"

Keith and Rich nodded slowly, keeping their heads down out of embarrassment. Dipper couldn't even look at them. He kept his eyes trained on the edge of the table trying desperately to keep all the rage and fear he felt so often bottled up inside. It wasn't even really their attitude that got to him. It was what they had said about the corpses. It made Dipper realize the gravity of their situation. For all he knew, Mabel could be-

No. He refused to even let his mind stray to that idea, mostly because he didn't want it to be true. Dipper desperately wanted to believe that he would find Mabel and that she would be completely and totally safe and she wouldn't think that he hated her. And as far as he was concerned, that was the only option.

"Alright, does everyone see those guards?" Terrence continued with his lecture. Everyone at the table nodded intently. "As most of you know, we've tried to infiltrate those borders many times, but we have not succeeded once. And if not for the valiant efforts of Stanley Pines-" Dipper noticed Stan's head go down at the mention of his brother's name. "-we would have all been killed on the first attempt. But with all our attempts, there has been one thing that has consistently gotten in the way of our success, and it's those guards. All we have to do is find a way into the castle without being seen, and we're golden."

"Sir, with all due respect, what you're suggesting, it's suicide," A thin man piped up in a nasally voice. "If we tried to convince a demon to join our side- we'd be sentencing ourselves to death."

"Not necessarily!"

Out of the blue, a portal began to form directly over Travis's head that Dipper recognized immediately, much to his disappointment. Bill Cipher popped out of the portal, laughing his hat off as usual, but his laughter was cut short when he was met with men surrounding him from all sides with huge guns.

"Well, well, well, if it isn't Bill Cipher!" Terrence said mockingly to the demon. He gestured to the guns, not taking his gaze off of Bill. "You like these? They're a new prototype we've been working on called the Demon-Zapper. Only weapon that can fully kill a demon that isn't made by demons. Want me to test it?"

"No need, Terrence, no need!" Bill's voice had taken on a shaky tone which Dipper had never heard before. It was almost like he was nervous, but that couldn't have been possible. Bill Cipher didn't get nervous, at least not that Dipper had seen. "I want to help you, that is, if I get something in return. And you know what'll happen if I don't get anything."

Terrence gestured to the men surrounding Bill and they slowly lowered their weapons. "What do you want?"

"Don't give him anything!" Dipper yelled, earning him the full attention of everyone in the room.

"Why, Dipper?" Terrence asked, glaring at Bill.

"Because he had his powers taken away by Diablo. He can't do anything to you. Don't believe any threats he issues you."

Bill narrowed his eye at Dipper, as if to say, "Dammit, I wasn't gonna tell them that!", before turning his attention back to Terrence. "Listen. I want to betray Diablo. Show him that he messed with the wrong demon. And you need a way into the Center Castle. So let me help you! No puppeteering this time, I swear!"

Terrence sighed and rolled his eyes. "I guess you're right. Gentlemen, show Bill Cipher here to his cell."

"What? Why do I need a cell?"

"I need to make sure you don't run off before you help us." Terrence grinned at Bill before the men hauled him away, kicking and screaming all the way to the cell.

...

"Can't sleep?"

Dipper lifted his gaze away from the campfire he was sitting in front of to see Terrence walking toward him. They were at an old campsite on the edge of the desert, overlooking a massive lake made with a dark black liquid.

"Yeah." Dipper tossed a shriveled-up twig into the base of the fire to keep it going. "I can't sleep much anymore."

"I get it. It's tough, what you're going through."

Dipper sighed, looking up at the black sky. "You know, whenever I would feel sad like this back on Earth, I would just go on the roof of the Mystery Shack and look at the stars to try to clear my head. Sometimes, Mabel would join me, and we would see which constellations we could find. I try to do that here, but-" His voice failed, prompting a few stray tears to leak from his eyes.

Terrence nodded. "But there are no stars. Makes you feel even more lost than you were before."

"Yeah."

They were both silent for a while, staring at what remained of the campfire. Terrence broke the silence by saying, "I know how you feel, man. I lost everyone in my family when I was about your age. It hurts like hell."

Dipper nodded slowly, then, much to his surprise, a smile began to stretch across his face. "I remember one Christmas a couple of years ago, when Mabel and I got a couple of fake swords. After we had broken them in around the house a couple of days later, I came up with the idea to have a fencing duel on the roof. Not too high up, just above the rose bushes. When we dueled, Mabel had me cornered when I began to lose my balance. She-" He was laughing now, but in a way he didn't quite understand. He was laughing about he memory, but he felt immensely sad remembering it. "-she pulled me backwards and took the fall instead. She broke her right arm that day, and my parents didn't forgive me for weeks."

"She sounds incredible, Dipper." Terrence sat down next to Dipper, pulling Dipper's cloak over his shoulders where he was unprotected.

"Yeah," Dipper sniffed. "She's always been the one to save me, from bullies at school and wild dogs in the neighborhood, and occasionally from death. But that's only been since we've lived in Gravity Falls. Now she needs me to do the same, and-" Dipper felt the tears began to run down his cheeks, but for some reason, he didn't feel the need to hide them around Terrence. He figured Terrence would get it. "-I don't know if I can get to her in time. I don't even know if she'll want to see me."

"Dipper-"

"Terrence, you saw what was on that tape!" Dipper's voice began to crack, but he didn't care. Everything else about him was broken; why should his voice be any different? "She thinks I hate her! Because of Diablo, my own sister thinks I would stab her without any reluctance at all! I hate knowing that she is probably terrified to set foot near me now!"

"Hey, shh, it's okay," Terrence pulled Dipper close to him and held him while he cried. They sat there like that for a while, until Dipper felt his tears go from a stream into an occasional rainfall. He sat up, wiping tears from his cheeks, and Terrence grabbed him by the shoulders, looking him straight in the eyes. "I promise you, Dipper, we'll help you find her. And I will tear Diablo limb from limb for what he's done to all of us, even if it is the last thing I do."

Dipper smiled and rested his head against Terrence's chest. Simply knowing that the people here were on his side and would help his sister meant the world to him. He sat there in the night with Terrence until the last embers from the fire faded to darkness.


	6. Meanwhile

On a normal day in the Dreamscape, the halls of the Center Castle would be vibrant and live with demons. Demons of all shapes, colors and sizes would be rushing around, doing various tasks like cleaning and delivering messages. The crystalline walls and tile floors would be polished and cleaned until one was blinded by their shine. But not today. Today, the halls of the Center Castle were completely still and silent. No work was being completed, no floors were being cleaned, no food was being cooked. The entire castle was completely silent and tranquil.

That is, until a red demon shaped like a circle sped through the halls and tore the silence apart.

He carried dozens of papers and books in his thin arms, flying through the castle faster than the speed of sound. The demon, often referred to by his friends as Alvin, had received a strange summons from his master just moments ago. It hadn't said much; it only contained one sentence: Meet me at the Converter.

Alvin panicked as he raced through the halls. He knew he had a well-established position in the Demon Brigade; he was highly respected as a chief decoder of human messages. In this war that was taking place, that was crucial. They always had to be one step ahead of that blasted Terrence and his forces.

But recently, Diablo had put him to work on the machine that not many in the demon community dared to speak of: the Converter. He had been charged with the task of finding subjects for the machine. Alvin had been promised a much higher pay than he had been previously given, which came in handy when he had a lovely wife, Diana, whose purple fiery skin had excited him since the day they met, and three beautiful kids, Vinny, Olga, and Troy, who had just recently begun school on the finer demon arts.

However, Alvin was not certain that what he was doing was right. He had always been taught to not act for himself, but to act for the good of the demon community. But after seeing exactly what the Converter was capable of, Alvin began to see the dark side of his kind. He began to notice the terrible things demons would do, not only to the people they kidnapped, but also to each other. And he wasn't sure he liked that side of his species.

It didn't exactly help that Diablo had quite the temper, and he had threatened to tear Alvin apart the next time he was late.

Finally, Alvin reached a secret elevator on the far east side of the castle, one that not even the maids were allowed to see. Unlike the rest of the castle, the elevator was dark and cold, and gave Alvin an uneasy feeling in his core. He pressed a rusty button to the right of the elevator, and the elevator doors creaked open. As soon as the demon floated through them, they slammed shut again, and the elevator shot down at a speed that could have ripped the flesh off of a human being.

The elevator hit the ground with a loud thud in a matter of seconds and the doors creaked open once again to reveal a huge prison. Along each wall were hundreds of circular cells, each containing a movable bed and several restraints. Many of the cells were occupied, with children of all ages, races, and even species crying out in pain or sleeping. Alvin always felt an uneasy feeling in his gut when he saw them suffering. As he floated past them, he saw a crew of three demons carrying a small Caucasian boy's body and throwing it into a cart. The boy's skin had taken on a grayish tone, and a small coating of blood covered his forehead. The demons covered the boy with a sheet and wheeled him off down the hall. Alvin witnessed this same ritual happen at least twice a week, Dreamscape time. That's why there was a constant demand for new subjects for the machine. It very often killed so many children, it couldn't get the dreams necessary to keep the Dreamscape alive.

In the very center of the prison, in the middle of all the cells, there was a massive machine. It towered above everything; even the strongest demon would have to fly for days just to reach its top. Alvin knew exactly what the machine was: the Converter. The machine was connected to everything: the cells, the walls, and to the testing rooms, where the children were experimented on. It was glorious, it was terrifying, it was far too powerful for anything to shut it down. And Alvin knew that was where he would find Diablo.

He found his master gazing up at it, marveling in its destructive power. He turned around suddenly, sensing Alvin's presence. Alvin was always terrified to actually gaze upon his master. Diablo was huge; he was about half the height of the Converter. His flame burned an inky black, and although it was dark in color, it was blinding. His eyes glowed a terrifying yellow, and his mouth opened wide to reveal yellowing daggers that resembled teeth. He had huge arms and floated low in the air. Not many demons had the bravery to look directly at Diablo for long; even Alvin had to point his blue eyes at the floor after a few seconds.

"Alvin," Diablo growled. "You received my message. Good."

"Yes sir," Alvin squeaked. "And I've been researching what you asked me to research on trances. I think with the proper amount of time, I could perform a perfect trance and cast it over the Pines girl."

"We don't have time. Cipher tells me they are formulating an attack plan as we speak."

"But I thought-"

Diablo sighed. "Yes, Alvin. I know he is in captivity. Fortunately, I let him keep his communication powers when I took his other ones away. But no matter. Let's get on to why I called you here."

The two demons floated over to a cell on the right side of the wall which had the number 621 hovering over it in burning red print. Inside lay a 12-year-old girl who was getting some much-needed sleep after a particularly bad injury to her abdomen. She wore a worn-out pink sweater which was stained with blood and a tattered blue miniskirt. The girl was known to the demons as subject 621, but Diablo often liked to refer to her as her given name: Mabel Pines.

Diablo waved the cell door open with one hand and the two demons entered. The cell door clanged shut, causing Mabel to jolt awake. Her shock quickly melted into disgust upon seeing who her guests were.

"Oh, it's you," She spat at her captors. "Are you dragging me for more mutilations today?"

"Not yet, Mabel," Diablo said in a sickly-sweet voice before turning back to Alvin. "Alvin, did you do any research on fear trances?"

"Oh, yes, sir!" Alvin fumbled around nervously, searching through his stacks of parchment. "I researched them all: fear, sadness, anger, love, I've got them all!"

"Good. Now, if we're going to do this, we're going to have to do it quickly, as we don't have much time before her brother and the rest of the humans get here-"

"Did you say my brother?" Diablo and Alvin turned their heads to see Mabel sitting up on her bed excitedly, clutching her stomach in pain. "Oh, I knew Dipper wouldn't leave me here to die! Yes! He is gonna crush all of you jerks for what you've done to us!"

Diablo rolled his eyes and leaned close to Alvin, muttering, "Put her under."

Alvin sighed, turning toward the girl and shooting a purple flame at her head. It enveloped her head, causing her eyes to go blank and the energy in her body to disappear. She loosened slightly, slumping forward into a lazy but still seated position. Alvin winced to himself. The one thing he truly despised about his new job was putting the kids under hypnosis and seeing them so vulnerable like this.

"Get ready to see a fear trance at work." Diablo floated forward menacingly, raising his arms toward Mabel. "Take notes."

As he began to work, Diablo's eyes turned a fearsome purple color. "Mabel Pines," he chanted. "From this moment on, all humans who are not currently in this building are your enemy. They will do whatever it takes to kill you and make sure you never return home to your family. However, one human will stand above all others in his quest to hurt you. His name is Dipper Pines. Whatever lies he tries to tell you to make you escape, do not believe. He does not love you; not after what you did to him. His only aim is to make you suffer and pay for your actions. If you see him, you must fight him. You must annihilate him before he does the same to you.

"This trance is now iron-clad; it can only be undone by another demon. Let it be so!"

Diablo snapped his fingers and Mabel fell backward onto her bed. Alvin stared at her in shock. He couldn't believe what had just happened! He knew Diablo was evil, but he couldn't have imagined seeing him be this terrible!

Diablo laid one hand on Mabel and she woke, rising into a seated position slowly. "What are you still doing here, loser?"

"Oh, just testing something." Diablo moved his hand slightly, creating a picture that one of their spies had taken of the human leader, Terrence. He showed it to Mabel, and when he did, something strange came over her. Her eyes changed colors from their normal light brown to a glowing purple, and her face twisted in fear. She jumped behind her bed and pressed herself against the bars of the cell, whimpering in fear and beginning to cry.

The demon smiled nastily and waved his hand across Mabel's face, causing her to fall unconscious and slump to the floor in a heap. He surrounded her with a blue flame and lifted her back onto her bed, placing her gently on her back and tying a few of the restraints around her. "I would test the other part," he snickered, "but I'd like to save that for a very special occasion."

"Sir?" Alvin looked up at his master in disbelief. "Was it really necessary to put that last bit in there? I mean, that's her twin brother!"

Diablo turned on Alvin, pushing him out of Mabel's cell and shutting the door behind him. "Do you want me to make you the test subject for that part?" He roared, causing Alvin to shake his head in fear. "Listen to me, Alvin. These humans are terrible creatures with no conscience. They want to take us away from our home. They want to leave us for dead so they can have all the power they want! They would kill everyone you love in a second, no questions asked. The one good quality these despicable people have is their dreams, and even those don't come perfect. That's why we have to alter them; so we can make that one quality in the humans perfect. So we can have good lives! Don't you want that?"

"Yes, sir..." Alvin murmured.

"Good. Now come with me. There is much work to do in harvesting those dreams." He led Alvin to a door on the far side of the prison which was labeled Portal Room. Diablo opened the door, and inside were dozens of portals, each labeled with a different dimension name. "We need more dreams."

"Sire!"

As the two of them were about to enter the portal room, they were stopped by a small blue demon calling out for them. The demon was shaped like a square, and his yellow eyes darted around the room in fear. "Sire! Sire! Sire!"

"What is it, Jasper?" Diablo growled. "We don't have all day!"

"We've just received a transmission from Cipher! He says he's overheard that the humans intend to storm the castle in one week, Dreamscape time!"

Diablo grinned evilly. "Gather the war officials! Start making preparations! We don't have all day!" He ushered Jasper away angrily, causing the demon to shriek in fright and fly away quickly. Alvin glanced up at his master nervously.

Diablo laughed to himself.

"It's time we paid that Pines boy and his friends a little visit."


	7. A Friendly Game

"Psst! Dipper!"

Dipper was awoken the next morning by his Grunkle Stan shouting in his ear. He groaned into his pillow, rolling over onto his side and checking the time on the communication device Stanley had given them. The digital clock read 7:30 AM, Dreamscape time.

"Ugh! Stan!" Dipper grunted angrily. The one thing Dipper hated above anything else was getting woken up earlier than was absolutely necessary. He figured Stan would know that, since the last time he had woken Dipper up before the sun had risen, Dipper had promised to throttle him the next time it happened. "The sun's not even up! Why would you ever think this is a good idea?"

"Because, Dipper, today I'm teaching you a skill that only real men can master!" Stan grinned and pulled the thin blanket off of Dipper.

"And which skill is that?"

Stan laughed and grabbed Dipper by the arm, yanking him off the mattress. "Time to go! Here's your cloak!"

Dipper pulled the cloak over his shoulders, glaring at his Grunkle. It was a good thing Dipper slept in all his clothes now, even his shoes, or Stan would be seeing way more of him than anyone would ever want to see.

...

"Basketball!"

Half a Dreamscape-hour later, Dipper found himself on an ancient, hardly-used basketball court on the edge of the Ruins. "This is the skill you wanted to teach me?" He yelled. Guys like him weren't meant for sports. They were meant for staying inside, reading, and watching TV until their eyes bled. Not... whatever this was. "How is basketball supposed to help me?"

"Oh, c'mon, Dipper!" Stan laughed, chucking the ball at Dipper. It was all Dipper could do to even catch it. "Basketball is truly a man's game! Besides, it can teach you to get out of a fight if someone charges you, and it can teach you self-defense skills! Now, show me what you've got!"

He raced toward Dipper, and he snatched the ball out of Dipper's hands before Dipper even knew what was happening. Dipper chased after his uncle, trying his hardest to get the ball, but his efforts were all for nothing, it seemed. Stan was just too tall, too fast, and too defensive. Not to mention he was a bit of a cheater. They played like that for two hours, with Stan making a basket every two minutes and Dipper falling on his face every two seconds.

"How did this basketball court even get here?" Dipper panted as he ran along the edge of the court.

"Terrence told me a couple of guys built it years ago when they got bored. When it was first built, it was a huge hit, but once the war got worse, it was barely used." Stan explained. Dipper couldn't even begin to understand how Stan was doing that. How could he talk so normally while he was sprinting down the court like he was twenty years younger than he was?

They continued to play- well, Stan played and Dipper struggled- until Dipper's muscles ached and his body decided that it had had enough. He collapsed onto the cement, struggling to catch his breath.

"C'mon, Dipper! You've gotta try harder than that!" Stan badgered his great-nephew, tossing the beat-up basketball at him.

Dipper rose to his feet shakily, holding his head in pain from when he had tripped over the basketball. "The funny thing is, Stan, that it's really hard to play basketball when you're a 90-pound wimp like me!"

"Excuses, excuses! I said the same thing to my dad when I was your age, and he still put me in those boxing classes! And look at me now, stronger than a pterodactyl and a horde of angry zombies!" Stan flexed his arm muscles almost tauntingly at Dipper.

Dipper snorted in disgust and started toward a bench that sat at the edge of the court. He fell into a seated position and slumped against the back of the bench. Stan sighed and took a seat next to him. "Remind me how this is supposed to protect me in a fight?" Dipper asked angrily.

"Well, for starters, when you and an opponent are fighting for the ball, you can slide right underneath their legs and, if you have enough strength, you can flip them over."

"That makes no sense!"

Stan rubbed the back of his neck nervously. "Well, technically, that's because I came up with it. And I'm not quite sure if it works yet."

"WHAT? Why would you tell me to do that if you have no idea if it will even work? That move could kill me!"

Stan rolled his eyes. "Oh, don't be melodramatic, Dipper."

"Whatever! The point is, basketball literally has no use in self-defense! And I have no need to be playing!"

"It's not the game that counts, Dipper, it's the way you play it! And you've gotta play it so you can defend yourself and the ball!" Stan yelled, glaring at Dipper. "And if you're not willing to do anything and everything to protect yourself and those close to you, then maybe you shouldn't be going to save your sister at all!"

Dipper gasped in shock. He cast his gaze to the worn out concrete, unable to even look at his great-uncle in his anger. Stan's eyes widened once his common sense returned, and he fell back against the bench, looking tired.

"Look, Dipper, I'm sorry. I don't mean to be hard on you, really. I just want you to be ready, that's all. I want you to be able to do for Mabel the one thing my brother couldn't count on me to do, and that's save her."

"What did you say?" Dipper asked incredulously.

Stan sighed and turned away, realizing that he had revealed too much. But Stan had accidentally sparked Dipper's curiosity, and the boy pressed on, determined to learn more. "Stan, what happened between you and your brother 30 years ago?"

"It's a long story. Much too long for the circumstances we're under." Stan looked at the ground, but even with his eyes turned away, he could tell that Dipper wasn't going to give up. He sighed and very hesitantly began to reveal to Dipper the part of his past he'd hoped to keep hidden forever.

"I was living in a dirty apartment then. I hadn't spoken to my brother in years, ever since my old man kicked me out of the house in high school. Suddenly, I got a postcard from him telling me to come to Gravity Falls as soon as possible. I was ecstatic, of course. My brother finally wanted to make amends with me!"

"What happened between you two?" Dipper asked softly.

"Let's just say we had a falling out. Anyway, when I got to Stan's house, he was acting crazy! He was all jumpy, and he even thought I was a government agent! When we got inside, he showed me the portal he was making, and what does he do? He just hands me a journal and tells me to get as far away as possible from him! The idiot! I was enraged, as one might tell, so I flipped out, and we kind of got into a massive fight.

"But while we were fighting, I accidentally knocked Stan into the gravitational pull of the portal. I tried to save him, but I was just too late." Stan wiped a few stray tears away hurriedly. "My twin brother was sucked in in a matter of seconds."

Dipper and Stan sat in silence for a few seconds. Dipper ran Stan's words through his head over and over again, shocked at their sincerity. He couldn't believe his reaction to the portal now! Stan had just been trying to save his twin all along!

"Stan-" Dipper said shakily. "I am so sorry for not trusting you. You really were just looking out for the family."

Stan sniffled and pulled Dipper close to him. "Aah, don't worry about it, kid! I would've been pissed at me too." He paused for a moment, thinking. "You saw the memory of my boxing classes when you were trying to save me from Bill, right?"

"How- how do you know about that?"

"Please, Dipper, I've lived in Gravity Falls for thirty years. I know when I'm being possessed. Anyway, you saw what my old man was like." Stan's hands balled into fists as he remembered his father. "He was terrible to me. He always favored the other Stan, mainly because he was smarter and had a chance to be something great. I don't ever want to treat you like my father treated me. Just know that all I'm trying to do by toughening you up is protect you. Got it?"

"Got it." Dipper said vaguely. He had an eerie feeling in his chest since he had heard about Stan's childhood. He even got to wondering if Mabel had ever felt like Stan felt. Their father had always had a preference for Dipper, after all.

"Good. Now, you up for another round? I'm not gonna go easy on you this time!" Stan snickered and picked up the basketball, dribbling it menacingly in front of Dipper.

Dipper laughed to himself and ran back onto the court. It had been a good while since he had trusted Stan this much. He hadn't remembered how nice it was to have someone like this who could really teach him, mentor him, and open up to him. Plus, Dipper had never seen this sweet, vulnerable side of his Grunkle before. It was all a pretty new experience for him.

Luckily, it was an experience he could definitely get used to.


	8. What You Haven't Told Me

The one thing Dipper really struggled to understand about the Dreamscape was just how different everything was. Comparing how things were on Earth to how they were in the Dreamscape made his head spin. On Earth, everything was vibrant and alive. You never really felt alone on Earth; you always felt a sense of being watched, whether it was by a bug, a passerby, or even by the scenery around you. Just by looking at the surface of a lake, you could tell that there was much more going on beneath the surface than you could ever tell.

But as Dipper sat by the Ruins' one and only lake, he got no such feeling at all. He stared at the inky black surface of the lake, expecting to see some of the ripples he had grown accustomed to from the lake near his California home, but the water stayed as still and lifeless as ever. Even the sun, which sat high in the gray sky, gave no sign of the life and happiness of the sun on Earth.

It made Dipper feel like he was stuck in some sort of time warp, the way everything stayed still all the time. It was as if time was frozen. Nothing jumped out at him, no bushes rustled with the movement of small animals, nothing waited in the dark for its next meal.

He hated just waiting around the Ruins like this. Terrence had told him not to worry about coming to the planning meetings. He had said that he would tell Dipper when they had a plan of action ready, but Dipper was having trouble believing that. Uncertainty gnawed at him like a dog on a bone. He was just sitting here waiting, while Mabel could be hurt or worse! He hated feeling this useless and cut off.

"Dipper Pines!"

He was brought back to reality by the sound of a man's voice, gravelly and deep. He scrambled to his feet to see a large man with even larger shoulders, hoping to be greeted with the news that Terrence and the others had a plan ready. But instead, Dipper was met with-

"Dipper Pines, the prisoner Bill Cipher requests your presence."

The man turned in almost a robotic fashion and walked toward town. Dipper groaned and rolled his eyes. Of course, it wasn't enough that his sister was in the clutches of an insane demon overlord who was trying to steal her dreams. Now, he had to deal with Bill, the demon whose favorite pastime was screwing with Dipper's mind. He reluctantly followed the man into town, wondering what in God's name Bill wanted now.

...

"Pine Tree! What a pleasant surprise!"

The demon and his guest stood in a dark, depressing dungeon beneath the Ruins' dining hall. Bill, as usual, was laughing at Dipper through the demon-proof bars on his cell door. The man who had come to get Dipper stood in the hallway by the door up to the dining hall, making sure Bill didn't pull any tricks on Dipper. "So, what brings you to my humble abode?" Bill said, or rather, shouted.

"What are you talking about, Bill?" Dipper rolled his eyes in exasperation. "You summoned me here."

"Oh, yeah, I almost forgot!" Bill laughed. "How have those planning meetings been going? Oh, right, you haven't been to any! HAHA!"

Dipper scowled up at Bill. "Is this all you summoned me for? So you could laugh at me for a couple hours?"

"Well, as fun as that is, Pine Tree, that isn't why I called you here. I was just thinking, y'know, it's awfully strange that you haven't been to the meetings, since that Terrence clod says everyone that's taking part in the invasion has to be at the meetings."

"Yeah." Dipper shrugged. "Terrence told me not to come. He said he'd tell me when they had a plan."

"Hmm. That's very weird."

"Why is it weird?"

"Oh, no reason," Bill said suspiciously. "Just that the invasion is tomorrow Dreamscape-time and it seems like no one told you."

Dipper's pulse sped up in panic. "WHAT? No. You're lying."

Bill cackled evilly. "Pine Tree, c'mon! I've been to every single meeting! I'm the only reason this invasion can happen in the first place! Besides, if I was lying, I would be talking in a totally different tone of voice. I have a voice reserved specifically for lying." Bill began to speak in a sickly-sweet tone. "Trust me, if I was lying, you'd know."

Dipper furrowed his brow in confusion. "Why would Terrence not want me in the invasion?"

"Oh, no, it wasn't Terrence, it was Stan."

"Stan did this? But why?"

"Ugh, kid, do I have to spell it out for you?" Bill said, annoyed that Dipper couldn't pick up on what he was saying. "Stan already lost a brother to the Dreamscape, although it was more of a mental loss than a physical one. Stan's brother will never be the same as he was before he entered the Dreamscape. Now that his great-niece is at risk of suffering the same fate or a worse one, he can't afford any mistakes in this invasion. And bringing along a clumsy 12-year-old kid? That has disaster written all over it."

Dipper shook his head. "I don't believe you."

Bill began to laugh. "C'mon, Pine Tree, you know me better than that. The one thing I would never lie about is what I find inside a person's mind."

Dipper focused his gaze on the concrete, trying to make sense of Bill's words. He was not clumsy! He was anything but clumsy! After all, Wendy herself had once told him he was very mature for his age. Besides, could Stan seriously think Dipper would ever get in the way of Mabel's well-being? The thought boggled Dipper's mind. He took one last look at Bill, who was rolling around with laughter, and he raced past the guard and up the stairs, heading for the main hall. His great-uncle had some major explaining to do.

...

Dipper skidded to a halt when he reached the doors of the main hall. If he really wanted to storm in there and make a scene, he needed to make sure he had his facts straight. He crept up to the door and pressed his ear against it. After a while, he heard the muffled voices of Stan and Terrence.

"So, tomorrow Bill said he'd distract the demon armed forces while we sneak in through the sewers. After that, we only have a little while to find the elevator that leads down to the Converter. Diablo will probably be down there with the Converter, so we'll have a bit of a fight waiting for us. But that's why we'll have the demon-zappers. We zap Diablo, and then the others come down and zap the other demons that will inevitably come after us. While they're fighting, we sneak off, find Mabel, and free all the kids trapped." Terrence said softly. It was all Dipper could do to even hear their conversation.

"When are we leaving?" Stan asked.

"We leave as soon as the sun sets." Terrence's voice held concern. "What are you going to tell Dipper?"

"Nothing," Stan sighed. "He just started to trust me again. I don't want to ruin that now."

"Stan, he has to know."

"I know that. But it's just like I told you. He's not ready to handle stuff like this. He's just not mature enough for a mission like this."

Dipper's heart sank with every word the two men said. He knew he should be mad, and he was, but at the moment, the main thing he felt was emptiness. He didn't really know why. He supposed that, even though he knew what Bill was saying earlier was true, some small part of him still believed Stan would never push him away like this. Some part of Dipper still desperately wanted to trust Stan, no matter what, but that part was shrinking with every word uttered by his grunkle.

Around then the emptiness began to fade and the rage he felt kicked into overdrive. He pushed open the doors to the main hall angrily. Terrence and Stan turned around with a start when the doors banged against the withered brick wall, and their eyes widened when they saw the hurt and enraged expression on the 12-year-old's face.

"Dipper, what are you doing here?" Stan asked, laughing nervously. "We said we'd let you know when we had a plan of action ready."

"Oh really?" Dipper took on a very sarcastic tone as he spoke. "How are you gonna do that when you guys are at the Center Castle tomorrow rescuing MY SISTER and I'm just sitting here watching the grass not grow?"

"What are you talking about, Dipper?" He could tell that his words had struck a nerve with Stan. He began to sound impatient when he spoke.

"Dipper, who told you that?" Terrence asked, pain in his voice.

"I just had an interesting conversation with Bill," Dipper spat at Stan. "He told me that you forced me out of the mission to storm the Center Castle because you think I'll screw it up! How could you do that to me? If anyone deserves to be there saving Mabel, it's ME!"

Terrence rubbed his temples. "Listen, Dipper-" He began in a tired voice, but Stan cut him off.

"No, Terrence, don't deny it." Terrence backed away from the other two while Stan walked up to Dipper, putting a hand on his shoulder. "Dipper, look, I only did what I did to protect you. You and your sister are the only real family I have left. The only ones who genuinely care about me and who I genuinely care about. If something were to go wrong tomorrow, God forbid, and we couldn't get to Mabel in time-"

"Don't," Dipper said in a strangled voice.

"I'm just saying, if that were to happen, and you were with us, you would want to go after Diablo. You would be hurting, grieving, and you would want revenge, but you and everyone else could end up getting seriously hurt in the process." Stan tried to continue, but his voice failed him.

Dipper backed away from Stan with a rage-filled look in his eyes. "Are you kidding me? Do you really think I'm that stupid? Do you really think I'm such an evil moron that I'd let some moron kill me and everyone I know that easily?"

Stan grabbed Dipper's arm and held on, no matter how many times Dipper tried to wrench it away. "Dipper, I just don't want the success of the mission to be put at risk because you weren't ready to handle it-"

"Then what was the point of our talk on the basketball court? You told me I was ready! You told me I could do it! Was that entire day a lie? What other lies haven't you told me, Stanford?"

Stan looked to the ground nervously. Maybe a little too nervously for Dipper's liking. "Stanford?" Dipper asked suspiciously. "What else haven't you told me?"

"Stanley," Stan replied sheepishly.

"What?"

"My real name is Stanley. I took Stanford's name when he was sucked into the portal in order to run the shack."

Dipper couldn't believe what he was hearing. He shook his head in shock. "So, what you're telling me is that all summer long, Mabel and I have been living with a man who wouldn't even tell us his real name?"

Stan looked at Dipper with pain in his expression. "I just don't want to lose you too, Dipper."

"Well, guess what, Stan? You already did. You lost me the moment you opened up that portal and SENT MY SISTER TO HER DEATH!" Dipper screamed with venom in his voice. He turned to leave the main hall, trying to compose himself.

"Dipper, wait-"

"No, you know what? No. I'm done." Dipper turned back to face his great-uncle, tears of anger and betrayal forming in his eyes. "You don't have to worry about me anymore. I'm gonna go save Mabel on my own." He unbuttoned his cloak a little bit and pulled something out of the pocket of his shorts. It was a picture from the very beginning of the summer, when he, Mabel, Stan, and Soos went fishing after an unsuccessful monster hunt where they found a crazy old man instead of a lake monster. Soos was the one taking the picture, so Dipper, Mabel, and Stan sat in the frame, wearing huge grins and their Pines family fishing hats. Dipper took the picture and ripped it so that he and Mabel were on one half and Stan was on the other. He dropped the Stan half on the ground and walked away, stopping just before the door-frame.

"I can't believe I thought I could trust you for even one second, Stan," Dipper murmured to himself before walking out of the main hall, leaving his grunkle and all his lies where they belonged- out of his life.


	9. One and the Same

"Dipper, wait!"

Dipper was almost out of the camp when he heard Terrence calling after him. He sighed angrily and turned, seeing Terrence running to catch up with him. "What do you want, Terrence?" Dipper said impatiently. "I have to get out of here."

Terrence slowed to a stop behind Dipper, panting heavily. "Dipper," He wheezed. "I know... you're mad... but... you have... to ... listen... to me."

Dipper looked at Terrence in exasperated confusion. "How long have you been running after me?"

"Ten minutes. You move... surprisingly fast for... your age." Terrence exhaled in relief. "Finally. That's over."

"Terrence, I'm not going back. Stan lied to me. About literally everything. And I might have been able to overlook that if he hadn't kicked me out of the mission just because I'm a kid! I mean, seriously! I'm more than just a kid!"

Terrence knelt down so he was face-to-face with Dipper. "Look, Dipper, I know you're mad, and you have a right to be, but if you care at all about your sister's well-being, you will not leave this campsite!"

Dipper's eyes widened in shock. "What... did you say?" He sputtered. "You guys are going to invade the Center Castle tomorrow Dreamscape-time to save Mabel anyway! How would it affect her either way where I was?"

Terrence sighed and began to walk back into the campsite. He gestured with his right hand for Dipper to follow him, saying, "Come with me, Dipper. There's something that I really need to tell you. Something I probably should have told you when I first met you."

Dipper reluctantly followed him, cocking his head in confusion. He had considered Terrence to be a really trustworthy person for as long as he'd been in the Ruins, mostly because the two of them were so much alike. He seemed like such an open book. What secret could he possibly be hiding?

They walked all around the Ruins, eventually venturing into a part of the camp that Dipper didn't recognize. There were a lot fewer tents and houses, save the occasional worn-out tent or two. They stopped when they reached an old, crumbling brick house that looked like it didn't have more than two rooms. They walked inside and Terrence led Dipper through a main room which had nothing in it but an old couch and a few notebooks and to a bedroom that could barely hold the two of them. Dipper looked around in disbelief at the state of the house. It was a pigsty; clothes, scrap pieces of paper, and books were littered around the house. He would never have pegged Terrence as a messy type of guy. He just seemed so organized.

"Sorry," Terrence mumbled. "I usually don't have guests." He led Dipper through a back door and back outside. Behind Terrence's house was a gigantic canyon, with pitch-black rivers flowing through the rocks, caves carved into the side of the walls, and pillars of rock scattered throughout the pit. Dipper stared at the canyon with awe and wonder. Granted, it was still as motionless as everything else in the Dreamscape, but it was still quite a sight to behold. He imagined this feeling of amazement was what it was like to see the Grand Canyon back on Earth.

Terrence turned to Dipper with a grave look in his eyes. "Dipper... this is what will happen if you leave the campsite tonight. I'm really sorry." He led Dipper out into a clearing in the field next to the canyon. It was a rather small clearing, with nothing in it but a large cement cross with a wooden plaque.

"Read it," Terrence said weakly. Dipper looked at him in confusion, but walked up to the cross and squinted at the plaque. A small paragraph was messily scribbled into the wood. Dipper cleared his throat and began to read aloud.

"This monument is to acknowledge one of many victims of the infamous Converter, Mabel Pines. She fought and suffered beautifully while in the captivity of the demon forces, and her sacrifice will forever be remembered. She, like too many before her, finally fell prey to the demons and their evil, and she left this world far too soon. She leaves behind a loving brother and-" Dipper tried to continue on, but his voice failed him as shock and heartbreak consumed him. He turned back to Terrence in disbelief and said, "How... I don't understand... how do you know that Mabel... that she-"

Terrence sighed, wiping tears from his eyes. "You see, Dipper, Stan's not the only one who's been keeping secrets. I have a secret bigger than Stan could ever dream up. I know that you think we have a lot in common. And we do, but that is not merely coincidence. Far from it, actually. We're actually a lot more alike than you might realize. The reason we're so alike, Dipper, is that-" Terrence fell to his knees in front of Dipper, looking him straight in the eyes, as he pushed the hair that curtained his forehead out of the way to reveal-

Dipper stumbled backwards, unable to believe what he was seeing. On Terrence's forehead, there was a very strange marking. A birthmark, actually. Which normally wouldn't be that out-of-the-ordinary, except for the fact that Terrence's birthmark formed the image of the constellation the Big Dipper. And that Dipper wore the exact same birthmark on his own forehead.

Terrence smiled and laughed slightly at Dipper's reaction, responding, "We are one and the same, Dipper."

Dipper didn't respond, as he was busy hyperventilating and generally freaking out. It took him a good few minutes to compose himself, but even when he did, he still had trouble processing his thoughts properly. After a while, he looked up at Terrence, who had been patiently watching him, and stuttered, "So, lemme get this straight: you're telling me that you are me, but like from the future?"

Terrence chuckled. "Well, it's a little bit more complicated than that, but I owe you the truth. Follow me inside."

The two went back into the house and into Terrence's tiny bedroom, sitting on his bed that took up the majority of the room. Terrence sighed and turned to Dipper, saying, "Listen, Dipper. What I'm about to tell you is incredibly gruesome and probably pretty confusing, but the one thing I can guarantee is that it will hurt you. My life has been many things, and not many of those things have been good. Are you sure you're ready for this?"

Dipper nodded intently.

"Alright then." Terrence began.

"It all started 20 years ago. Diablo abducted my sister after- well, I guess you already know that, so I'll fast-forward a bit. Things occurred for me largely the same way they did for me, with the exception of a few people, like the human's leader was a different man. Anyway, I went to the Center Castle by myself, fully expecting to sneak in with no problem, God knows why, but I barely got through the gate before they got me. They threw me in a cell with no food for two days. I fully expected to die right then. But Diablo was too smart for that. He wouldn't dare let me off that easy.

"He tried to interrogate me on the humans' plans. But the humans' leader, a fat guy ironically named Slim, was my role model. He took me and Stan in, he fed us, he accepted us. He could have left us for the Dreamwolves, but he didn't. The last thing I was gonna do was betray him! So I tried to keep my mouth shut, I really did.

"But Diablo threatened Mabel. He said he'd kill her. He said he'd make it slow, he'd make her suffer, and he said he'd make sure she hated me before he did it. That I wasn't willing to risk. Even though I hated myself for it, I told Diablo everything. Their weapons, their plan, their base, everything. I expected that after I did, Diablo would let me and Mabel go, but now that I think about it I have no idea why. He had no soul, no heart, and no mercy.

"The proposed time of the human invasion came and went. I began to panic, wondering why no alarms had gone off, why the demons who were guarding my cell hadn't left to fight the humans, and why no one had come to break me out so I could find Mabel. One day, though, Bill Cipher came to my cell and opened the door. He laughed in my face, saying he was sent by Diablo to retrieve me. He and a few other demons carted me to a room filled with portals to other dimensions, and Diablo greeted me there. He said he had a few gifts for me; the first was that he was setting me free. 'What else?' I asked him. He laughed maniacally and threw something at me. It fell to the floor and rolled in front of me, and I realized it was Slim's decapitated head. Diablo told me gloatingly that the invasion didn't make it past the front gates. The demon army was waiting in front of the castle for them. Not a single person survived, not even my great-uncle Stan, although he had made it much farther than anyone else. I couldn't believe it. These monsters had murdered the only people who had helped me during this whole mission! I was furious.

"Diablo wasn't done with me though. He told me he had one more surprise waiting for me, and that I'd see it when I got back to my dimension. By then, though, he had gotten to me. I fought furiously against the flame that was keeping me still, but it was no use. Diablo laughed evilly at me. 'Farewell, Pine Tree,' He said menacingly, as Bill and the other demons knocked me out and threw me into a portal.

"I can't remember exactly how long I was unconscious for, but when I woke up, the last remaining rays of sunlight were shining through the pine trees around me. I was in the forest surrounding the Mystery Shack, lying under the tree where I had first discovered the third Journal. At first, I couldn't remember how I had gotten here, or why I felt so... drained. Then the Dreamscape came back to me as I saw my cloak lying next to me, and I remembered. Mabel! Where was she? I panicked, scrambling to my feet and looking frantically for her, but it didn't take me long to find her.

"She was lying with her back turned to me by a tree where I often saw fairies nesting. My heart lifted when I saw her. A lot of twisted things had happened to me lately, but it was good to know that something good had come out of this stinking mess: I had my sister back. I used whatever energy I had left and sprinted to her, falling on my knees next to her. 'Mabel!' I said happily. 'You don't know how happy I am to see you-'

"I shook her shoulder gently so that she was facing me, and what I saw made my heart drop. The girl I saw lying in front of me barely looked like the girl I had grown up with. Her bones were clearly visible under her skin, and on the skin cuts and bruises were scattered like weeds all over her body. Her sweater was soaked in dark-red blood, which, as I felt it, was still fresh and damp, like it had just been shed very recently. I think what scared me the most about Mabel's appearance, though, was the look on her face. The life and happiness which had once been engraved in her facial features was just- gone. Her eyes were wide, as if she was in shock, but they looked blank, as if they were staring off into space.

"For a while I was in denial. I shouted at her, screamed at her, begged her to please just wake up. But nothing worked. After many failed attempts to try and wake her up, I noticed a rustling in the trees. Two men who I recognized to be Agent Powers and Agent Trigger burst through the foliage. When they saw me, they looked angry and frustrated, but when they saw Mabel, the anger turned into shock. They ran over and pushed me away, calling for an ambulance on their walkie-talkies.

"Around then I entered a state of shock. I just stayed silent for a long, and I mean long time. Even when my parents showed up in Gravity Falls a few hours later with Stanford, Soos, Candy, and Grenda and we all got the news that Mabel had been pronounced dead, I didn't react. I just couldn't believe it. I didn't really snap out of it until the funeral back in Piedmont. They buried Mabel next to Stan, although they could never find Stan's actual body to bury. For the longest time, I had tricked myself into believing that this was all just a bad dream, that I would wake up any minute in my bed in the Mystery Shack and see Mabel alive and well, sleeping in the bed opposite mine. But when I got home and went up to our room to see Mabel's posters and sweaters and stuffed animals, it hit me. She was gone. She had been my other half for so long, and now she was gone. I lost it. That night, I laid on Mabel's bed all night, crying like no kid should ever have to cry.

"You know, people back home in Piedmont used to say that when a kid Mabel's age dies, no one feels more pain than the kid's mom. But I say they're wrong. There is no worse pain in the world than the pain you feel when you lose a sibling, or even worse, a twin. I carried that pain with me for years and it barely dulled. I figured the only person who had it as bad as I did was Stanford. He hadn't gone back to Gravity Falls after the funeral, probably because it just hurt too much. But he didn't even know the half of it. I hadn't had the guts to tell him what had happened to Stanley in the Dreamscape, mostly because I couldn't talk about it much without my emotions getting the better of me. That was part of the reason I shed my nickname, 'Dipper' , and started going by Terrence. That name just brought back way too many memories."

"But my name isn't Terrence." Dipper interjected.

"Dipper," Terrence laughed. "You don't think I'd actually go by our given name, do you? Besides, Mom and Dad didn't care. They were hit so hard by losing Mabel, they were knee-deep in scotch and red wine by then."

Dipper's eyes widened in shock as Terrence continued.

"But one day about a year after she died, I was visiting her grave and I saw Stanford walk up next to Stanley's grave. When I saw him, I figured out that if I were him and my brother went inside the portal and didn't come out like Stanley did, the one thing I would want more than anything was closure. I owed him the truth, no matter how terrible it was. I sat him down on a bench and told him everything. Diablo, the invasion, the Converter, all of it. And it killed me to relive that. When I was finished, we both sat there in silence until we fell apart onto each other. That day really helped me to process everything, and I made it a habit for years after that to 'visit' Mabel at least twice a week, just so I could let it all out. Sometimes Stanford would even join me, and we would reminisce and tell stories about our twins. It really helped me and Stanford get closer.

"One day when I was eighteen, I sat on the old wooden bench next to Mabel's grave reading like I usually did when I saw someone very familiar walking through the graveyard. The man was fat, wearing a gray jumpsuit with an odd-looking tape measure. Even though it had been six years since I had last seen him, I recognized the man almost immediately as Blendin Blandin from the Time Police of the future. Then an insane idea popped into my head. I jumped off the bench and sprinted toward him, tackling him. He fought back a great deal, but I finally wrestled the tape measure away from him. 'Hope this works,' I muttered and pulled the tape measure back until it read six years. I pressed the button on it and disappeared.

"When I opened my eyes, I couldn't believe what I was seeing. I was standing in front of the Mystery Shack! It had actually worked! I had just transported back to when Mabel and I were twelve years old! Now I could stop Mabel's death from actually happening! Unfortunately, I had only taken two steps before Blendin and five heavily armed men appeared in front of me, grabbing me and transporting me to their future.

"Apparently Blendin had recognized me too. Although our feud had ended back on Soos' birthday 6 years ago, his anger had returned when I took his time machine. Luckily, he told me, since then he had asked for two time machines in case something like this happened again. To punish me, the Time Baby decreed that I would be stuck in a Time Loop until the day I died. He wiped Slim from existence and put me in his place. I would continue to age, but I would be stuck in the Dreamscape reliving the same period of time over and over. That period of time happened to be from just before Stan and I arrived in the Dreamscape until just after I was sent back to Earth. And I would be the only one who would remember Slim or anything that had happened while he existed. I've been stuck here for 14 years, watching on as Diablo and the other demons tortured my sister, and it has killed me.

"I have watched countless Dippers come to the Dreamscape to try and rescue Mabel, and none of them have succeeded. I know this because if they had saved her, the Time Loop would be broken and I would be sent home. I've tried to do so many things different throughout my time here to see if it would have any impact, but nothing has worked. That's why I'm telling you this, Dipper. I've never told a Dipper this before, simply because I didn't know if I was allowed to. I'm hoping you can learn from my mistakes and keep yourself from having the same crappy future as I did."

Dipper turned his gaze from Terrence and stared at the hardwood floor until his vision became fuzzy. As Terrence told his life story, Dipper felt as if he was living it along with him. He felt Terrence's anguish when he found Mabel, he experienced Terrence's shock when she was pronounced dead, and he felt Terrence's desperation when he tried to prevent her death altogether. Which made sense, he figured, since Terrence was Dipper from a different time.

He couldn't help himself when he felt the tears welling up in his eyes. Dipper hated crying like this, and it had happened so much to him in the past few days. He just felt so useless and hopeless. So when he felt Terrence's arm wrap around his shoulders, he resisted at first, but when he could hold it in no longer, he leaned into him and cried.

"It's okay," Terrence murmured, wiping tears from his eyes as well. "It hurts like hell. Just let it out."

They sat there on Terrence's bed for a good ten minutes, until Dipper felt like he could cry no more. He sat up and looked up at Terrence with uncertainty in his eyes. "I want to make sure this doesn't happen to Mabel again. I don't want to go through that. How can we stop it?"

"Well, first of all, you have to agree to stay here," Terrence said sternly. "The only reason Diablo captured us is because we thought we could do everything ourselves."

"Got it."

"And second, you have to apologize to Stanley. You can't do any of this alone, Dipper. Everyone has had secrets at one point in their lives, and that's no reason to push someone out of your life."

Dipper thought about it for a few seconds, but reluctantly agreed.

"Good. Now we have to-"

But Terrence was cut off when a massive explosion hurled the two hard against the brick wall and engulfed the bed in flames.


	10. Refreshing Chaos

Being stuck in a time loop until the day you died was a strange experience. It definitely had its ups and downs. On the one hand, you had to relive the absolute worst moments of your life over and over again for eternity. On the other hand, you've seen so many different things happen in your life that nothing really surprises you anymore.

Or that's what Terrence thought, anyway. No matter how painful watching his past self suffer through his sister's inevitable death was, he'd seen it happen in so many different ways that he was never really caught off-guard, never surprised. He had just assumed that nothing different would ever happen. Call him a pessimist, but Terrence had believed for a long time that the outcome of Dipper's visit to the Dreamscape could never change, that nothing could ever happen differently.

That is, until a fireball blew up his house.

When he came to, he had no idea how much time had passed. Maybe hours, maybe minutes. The last thing he remembered was telling Dipper his life story in a last-ditch effort to try and change history. He remembered seeing Dipper's pain and disbelief over the fate of his beloved twin sister, and he remembered trying to console him, telling him that he could change that future. And then his world set on fire.

Terrence sat up shakily and looked around, assessing the damage. The fact that he could see the rest of the campsite from where he was standing was definitely a bad sign, since his walls normally blocked any view of the campsite. What little remained of his home was scattered in heaps around him; the only part of his tiny brick house that hadn't been burnt to ashes or blown apart was the floor.

Suddenly a single thought pierced through his haze of disbelief. Dipper! Where was he? Terrence quickly scanned the remains of the bedroom, eventually finding the boy lying unconscious a few feet from where the bed used to be. Terrence crawled on his hands and knees to Dipper and grabbed him in his arms. He didn't freak out at first, since Dipper simply looked unconscious. But when he noticed that Dipper's chest wasn't moving or showing any signs of movement, Terrence began to panic. He held two fingers to Dipper's neck, feeling desperately for a pulse.

C'mon, Dipper, don't die on me! Terrence thought.

Finally, Terrence felt a weak pulse. He looked down and saw Dipper's chest rise and fall slowly, and he saw Dipper shift slightly in his arms. Terrence breathed out a sigh of relief, letting a slight smile creep briefly across his face.

As he looked at what was left of his home, Terrence felt something he hadn't felt for a very long time: uncertainty. One of the very few upsides to being in his position was that he always knew exactly what was going to happen next. He always had a plan of action. But this had never happened before. For the first time in a long time, Terrence had absolutely no idea what was going to happen next.

And in some strange way, that fact made Terrence very happy. Yes, he knew that this was a terrible thing to happen, but it meant hope. It meant that the timeline was changing, that maybe things could happen in a way that kept Mabel alive. And that filled Terrence with an ill-timed sense of joy.

He tightened his grip on Dipper and ran out of the ruins toward the campsite, hoping to get Dipper to someone, anyone, who could help him. But as he got into the camp, what he saw made his blood run cold.

It gave Terrence a slight sense of deja-vu when he entered the camp. Almost every single tent was ablaze, the bright white flames reaching up to touch the night sky. He almost lost his footing on the ground after a large wave of heat pushed on him from the camp. The one thing that he hadn't seen back when his house exploded was a swarm of demons speeding through the sky, blasting balls of their powerful fire at the tents below. Their bright colors and shapes provided a stark contrast to the dull and dim landscape of the Ruins.

Terrence's breathing sped up rapidly as he scanned the campground for any survivors. He wasn't too hopeful after seeing the vast amount of houses and tents that had burned to the ground or were still on fire. It had to be at least a hundred homes gone, and that was just at first glance. God, if they lost that many people... the human resistance wouldn't stand a chance.

The grim portrait of the burning campsite was interrupted when Terrence noticed a man running toward him. He tensed up, wrapping his arms even tighter around Dipper, unsure whether he was encountering a friend or foe.

"Terrence!"

Terrence relaxed when he heard the voice of Stanley Pines yelling desperately toward him. He jogged toward Stan, careful not to jostle Dipper too much. When Stan saw Dipper lying in Terrence's arms, a weary grin stretched across his face. He laughed slightly, then covered his mouth.

"Sorry," Stan grunted. "I'm just really glad you found him." He moved closer, reaching out his hands to touch Dipper, but the smile faded from his face when he saw that Dipper was unresponsive. "He's not-"

"No, Stan," Terrence said softly, giving a small smile. "He's alive. He's just unconscious." Upon hearing this, Stan sighed in relief, wrapping his cloak tighter around him in protection. Terrence continued, saying, "What's happening, Stan?"

"We don't know." Stan turned his head frantically, making sure there were no demons around. "The attacks only started around ten minutes ago. One minute, everything's quiet and we're all getting ready for the invasion, and the next, demons are raining fireballs from the sky."

"I don't get it," Terrence murmured. "How could they even know our location?"

It only took the two of them a few seconds to realize who was behind this and shout together, "Bill!"

They ran as fast as they could to the dark dungeon underneath the ruins of the dining hall. And if Terrence thought the wreckage of his house was bad, he was in for a shock when they reached the dungeon. The entire place looked like a bomb had gone off. Pieces of the walls were missing, and what remained of the walls and the floors was covered in burn marks and chips. Possibly the most gruesome part, though, was when they noticed the bodies of the two men who were guarding Bill sprawled in a corner in an awkward angle, lying in a pool of their own blood.

Terrence swallowed back the small amount of vomit that had worked its way into his throat, staring at the intense damage that had been done to the dungeon. "I should've known," He muttered angrily. "I should never have trusted him!"

"Why?" Stan said in a weak voice. "What happened here?"

"That." Terrence pointed at the area where Bill's cell used to be. The cell bars were nothing but a heap of twisted metal on the left wall, and the bricks on the walls were smeared with ash and heavily worn down. "Bill must have escaped and contacted the demon forces."

"That scumbag!" Stan said loudly. "How could he have done this?"

"I don't know, but we've got to get Dipper somewhere safe, and fast." Dipper shifted in Terrence's arms as he spoke. "If they catch us now... All of this will have been for nothing." They broke into a run out of the ruined dungeon.

Once they exited the dungeon, the two noticed something very strange. They had expected to walk into the middle of a massive battle, with humans and demons shooting wildly at each other and screams of rage and pain filling the air. But when they emerged from the doors leading into the dungeon, they heard nothing except the crackle of flames from the tents around them and the night wind whistling through the air.

"What's going on? Where is everyone?" Stan asked frantically. "You don't think-"

"No, Stan, I don't." Terrence suddenly remembered something that filled his weary heart with some small amount of hope. "Underneath the Main Hall there are a series of trenches and tunnels that we dug in case the Demons ever found us. We haven't used them in so long that I forgot they were there." He chuckled to himself. "Thank God I was the only one who did."

"Well then, what are we standing here for? We have to get Dipper down there!"

They took off at a sprint toward the Main Hall, but they never made it into the trenches. They had just reached the doors to the Hall when five demons approached them from the back. Terrence turned slowly, assessing the danger. They varied in color and shape, which Terrence had come to expect from these creatures, but what Terrence hadn't expected was their remarkable similarities in that one moment. All five of the demons had their skinny black arms pointed at the humans with orbs of blue fire surrounding their fists, and all five of them wore the same menacing grin as they prepared to strike.

And as the demons all at once surrounded their prey with a harsh blue fire and right before Terrence passed out, two words clearly ran through his head.

What now?


	11. Bill-nedict Arnold

I am so sorry for using that terrible pun as a chapter title. Hopefully you'll look past my cheesiness and want to know what happens anyway!

Also, I am so so sorry about not updating sooner! Junior year is proving to be a lot tougher than previously expected, so I've been working on homework pretty much nonstop trying to keep myself from falling behind. I haven't had much opportunity to write in the past few months, but I promised myself I would get this chapter done tonight, so here you go!

Thanks so much for the reviews and likes and thanks so so much for sticking with me! I promise from now on I'm gonna try to update more frequently, especially since we're nearing the end of our little tale :)

Enjoy guys!

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When Dipper woke up, the first thing he could register was a throbbing pain in the back of his head.

He raised his right hand to the back of his head gingerly, feeling a thick bandage taped to it. Dipper didn't understand. What exactly had happened? The last thing he remembered was sitting in Terrence's house, learning about Terrence's terrible life and his own equally horrible future. Then there was this brilliant flash of light, and then nothing.

He groaned slightly, pushing himself off his stomach into a sitting position on the concrete floor. Concrete? Terrence's floor was wooden, not concrete. Where was he now?

When he turned his head to look at his surroundings, he felt like he was in a dream. He found himself in a dark cell with metal bars surrounding him. He saw demons of all shapes and sizes float past, some carrying children in handcuffs with them. He couldn't believe it. This couldn't possibly could be real. Any second, he would wake up back at the campsite, getting ready to go save Mabel- or better yet, he would wake up back at the Shack, Mabel sleeping in the bed opposite him. This couldn't be real!

"You okay, Dipper?"

Dipper turned sharply, startled, and breathed a sigh of relief when he saw Terrence and Stanley sitting tiredly against the metal bars of the cell. Both looked worse for the wear, sporting massive bruises and cuts all over their bodies.

"Yeah," Dipper said breathlessly. "How long was I out?"

"About a day Dreamscape-time," Terrence said.

"What happened?"

"Bill escaped and called the demon forces. He told them everything; our weapons, our location, you name it. They raided the camp and took everything they could find." Stan stared at the ground as he spoke, his rage showing through his voice.

"Where are the other humans?" Dipper asked.

Terrence smiled. "If my assumptions are correct, everyone else found their way to a secret bunker underneath the Main Hall. I'm pretty sure us three are the only humans the demons captured. At least, I really hope so."

"But... how could Bill contact the demons in the first place?"

"Yeah, that doesn't add up," Stan said. "We had him locked in jail under constant supervision! How could he even begin to-"

"Morse code," Terrence interjected, his eyes wide with this revelation.

"What?" Both Dipper and Stan said.

"Bill used Demon Morse Code to communicate with the demon forces." Terrence stood up and began to pace- or as much as he could in the limited space of the cell. "You see, guys, a demon has the ability to communicate with other demons without even using words, in a very similar manner to human Morse Code. However, the demons figured out a way to do this in such a way so that we don't even notice. Demon Morse Code consists of a series of fast-paced color changes that the human eye can't detect. Bill must have been giving the demons information about our plan since the very beginning."

"That bastard!" Stan growled. "He's a traitor!"

"I should have seen this coming," Terrence muttered. "How could I have been so stupid?

"This isn't your fault, Terrence. Not by a long shot." Stan shakily rose to his feet and put his arms around Terrence, giving him a reassuring smile. "No one at all could have predicted this. Not a single person in the entire camp could have seen this coming."

"Yeah," Terrence said softly. "No one did." He turned his gaze to the ground, and as Dipper raised his head to look at him, he could have sworn he saw a ghost of a smile painted on Terrence's face.

But that doesn't make sense, Dipper thought to himself. If what Stan and Terrence had said was true, then what had just happened was a catastrophic tragedy that could mean the end of the human resistance! There was no element of this situation that could possibly make Terrence smile. Unless-

Dipper's eyes widened in realization as he turned his head to look back at the floor. Of course! He thought. As he ran through the possible reasons in his head, suddenly all the pieces began to fit together. Back at his house, Terrence had told him that he had lived to see countless scenarios and timelines where Dipper had tried to save Mabel and failed. And although Terrence hadn't said it out loud, Dipper had taken this to assume that he pretty much knew every single outcome that could ever happen and that he wasn't surprised by much. Must've been that 'Dipper-and-Terrence-being-the-same-person' thing, he figured. If that was the case, then the only way Terrence could not have seen this coming was that this was an all-new situation and timeline, meaning that there was a chance that they could get Mabel out of this alive. And knowing that made a shred of hope that had not been present in Dipper since before this whole portal mess started come creeping back into Dipper's heart.

Dipper was so absorbed in his own thoughts, he didn't even notice when Stan slowly took a seat against the bars next to Dipper, gingerly rubbing his left arm in pain as he did so. "Hey, kid," Stan said gruffly.

Dipper turned his head quickly, startled, and exhaled when he saw it was only his great uncle. He then remembered all the awful things he had said to Stan just a day earlier and looked back at the ground guiltily. "Hey, Stan," He mumbled.

"Listen, Dipper, about what happened the other day-"

"I'm really sorry, Stan. I should never have said that stuff to you," Dipper blurted out. "I was just... in shock, I guess. All I could think about was myself. I didn't once think about the well-being of you, of everyone else in the camp- I didn't even consider Mabel's safety." Dipper felt the tears begin to form in his eyes, but he wiped them away stubbornly. "I'm so sorry."

Stan put his arm on Dipper's shoulder. "No, I'm the one who should be sorry, Dipper. I should have told you. About everything, I guess. The thing is, when Stanford first came out of that portal and you were arguing with Mabel, I took him aside and asked him if he'd go by Stanley for a while- just so I could keep whatever trust you guys still had in me. He was a little bit-no, a lot bit shocked at first, but after a bit of begging, he came around." He sighed. "All I wanted was for you two to trust me. Because you two-you're the only family I've got."

Dipper's brow furrowed in confusion. "What are you talking about? You still have your brother, don't you?"

"It's kinda complicated, Dipper. Stanford and I- we weren't exactly on the best of terms when he went into the portal. As far as I was concerned, he was dead to me. Even after he came out of the portal, he almost punched me in the face while I was trying to convince him to go by my name. You and your sister are the only blood relatives I have left who I genuinely care about and who care about me in return.

"Dipper, I understand why you were mad at me. I would've reacted the same way if it was me. But I swear, I wasn't keeping you behind because I thought you weren't strong enough to fight with us. I just wanted to keep you safe. My reasoning was, if things didn't go the way we planned during the invasion, at least I could die knowing there was someone left who could keep the fight going and who-who-" He tried to finish, but his tears choked off his voice and he couldn't.

"Someone out there who still loved you." Dipper picked up where Stan left off. "Someone to get to Mabel. Someone to make sure... to make sure that you didn't die in vain. Someone to avenge you."

Stan looked at his great-nephew and nodded slowly, a sad smile crossing his face.

Dipper looked up at Stan with a soft, kind look in his eyes. "Don't worry, Stan. No matter what happens today or anytime in the future, I'll always be your family. So will Mabel, even though she never even once doubted the kind of guy you are. And I shouldn't have, either. I'm really sorry."

Stan gave Dipper's shoulders an affectionate squeeze, and then, to offset the feelings Dipper knew Stan wasn't comfortable with yet, gave him a noogie. "It's fine, kid. Just trying to look out for you kids, is all. I'm a twin too, ya know."

Dipper nodded, and then realization hit him. "Mabel!" He cried out. He jumped to his feet, but had to grab his head because he was still a little dizzy. "She's somewhere on this floor. I'm certain of it."

Stan rose to his feet too. "Alright, kid, I believe you. I've never doubted those weird twin-instincts you guys have."

"We've gotta find a way out of this cell."

"How, kid? This is demon technology."

"I thought you'd never ask." Dipper and Stan turned to look at Terrence, who had a determined look in his eyes and a little box the size of a thimble in his hand. "Before you ask, this is a miniature lock-picking device we made as standard issue for all human soldiers in case they were captured by the enemy. It's too small for the demon security officers to detect, so we can easily break out of demon prisons. That's why, I'm proud to report, the demon forces have never been able to keep a human prisoner of war during this entire rebellion. This little guy-" Terrence waved the lock-picking device. "-It's our ticket out of here."

"Wait." Dipper interjected. "How have the demons not noticed these yet?"

"Well, Dipper," Terrence replied, "While the demons may be highly skilled with their own technology, they're dumb as rocks when it comes to our tech. Watch this."

Terrence slipped his hand through the thin space between two bars and stuck the lock-picking device onto the control panel which was holding the cell doors shut. He pressed a small button on the front of the device and slid his hand back into the cell, watching the machine with sheer delight. It made a few buzzing and whirring sounds, and in a few seconds, it dropped to the floor. Dipper's face fell; he assumed the machine had broken.

"Wait for it," Terrence murmured.

And in a few moments, the cell door made a few clicking sounds and swung open, allowing the three men to step out into the halls of the demon dungeon. An overjoyed grin stretched across Dipper's face for the first time in a few days.

"Alright, Mabel," Dipper said determinedly. "We're finally on our way." And with that, the three of them wandered into the unknown treachery of the demon castle's dungeon.


	12. No Matter What It Takes

Author's Note

Hey everyone!

First off, I am so sorry for the unexpected leave of absence! It's been really hard managing school and a social life and extracurriculars and all that fun stuff. Also, dealing with losing relationships and big changes in life has been really stressful. But the school year's almost over, and writing this story has really helped me through these last few weeks, so I promised myself I'd make some real progress in getting this story done!

Second, I want to thank everyone who's read, followed, or liked this story! Hearing your feedback and knowing that you guys read my story really helps me and motivates me, so thank you so much for sticking with me! I'm gonna be posting a lot more frequently from now until the story's over, I swear!

Here's chapter 12!

* * *

Dipper had seen his share of action movies and spy thrillers during his brief 12 years of life. He loved them; you could say he was addicted to them. He couldn't tell you the exact reason why, mainly because he didn't know himself. It could have been because the lives the characters led were often much more exciting than his own(at least before he came to Gravity Falls for the summer), or it could have been because the main characters of those movies always got what they wanted and looked supremely awesome while doing so. Whatever the reason was, Dipper absolutely loved watching a good action movie.

One of the parts of those movies that he always looked forward to was the part when the main character and his team sneaked into an enemy base to beat the bad guys. Dipper always loved how the main character looked so fearless, no matter what the circumstances were. It had always been Dipper's secret dream to someday be just as brave as all those action heroes in movies.

But now, as he crept through the deserted prison hallway with Stan and Terrence, Dipper realized that being one of those action heroes wasn't all it was cracked up to be.

They were moving ridiculously slow so as not to draw attention to themselves, but Dipper's heart was racing so fast, he hardly even noticed their speed. He looked behind his shoulder constantly, making sure no demons had shown up to zap them in the last two seconds. He didn't know how Terrence and Stan were acting so calm and collected; it was taking everything Dipper had not to freak out and fall apart.

"Are we almost there?" Dipper hissed in a voice that sounded much lower in his head than it did when it actually came out.

"I'm afraid not," Terrence sighed. "In the video Diablo gave us, he called Mabel "Subject 621." I can only assume that that's the number cell they're holding her in." He gestured to the numbers painted in bright red flame over the cells they passed. "We're only in the 300's now. I'm guessing it'll be at least fifteen minutes before we get into the 600's." Terrence looked down sadly at his desperate younger self. "I'm sorry, Dipper. It's gonna be a while."

Dipper sighed in exasperation. Yes, he knew that Terrence and Stan wanted more than anything to find Mabel and free her as quickly as possible, just like he did. And yes, he knew that they were moving as fast as possible for three prisoners who had escaped their cell and were trying to evade capture. But they were wasting time that Mabel might not have, and that was unacceptable. Dipper hated thinking that his sister's life hung in the balance of anything they did, but ever since he had heard Terrence's life story and heard what had happened to Mabel in another timeline, he was forced to think that any misstep or mistake, however small, might possibly lead to Mabel not making it out of there alive. And that was a risk that Dipper was not under any circumstances willing to take.

Stan looked down at his nephew, a mask of grim determination painted on the boy's face. A sharp stab of pain coursed through Stan's heart as he considered the stakes of what they were doing. They had to succeed; if they failed, Dipper would lose his best friend and Stan would lose his favorite great niece. And that was only a slight consequence. Worst-case scenario, they all would end up dead and the demons would be free to conquer where they pleased. He put his hand on Dipper's shoulder. The boy stiffened up at first, but he relaxed when he realized who was holding him.

"It's okay, Dipper." Stan smiled weakly. "We'll get to her in time. I promise." He swallowed, grinning although he wasn't sure he believed a word of what he had just told Dipper, even though he wanted to with all his heart.

"Stan's right, Dipper," Terrence chimed in. "Trust me, we'll-"

His words were cut off when he saw a group of multicolored demons floating down the hall toward them. They were talking, laughing, and for the moment completely oblivious of the three humans standing right in front of them. Panic quietly filled Terrence's chest as he scanned their surroundings for anywhere to hide. Luckily, his eyes rested on a small doorway hidden on one of the walls to his left. He grabbed Dipper and Stan by the shoulders and hauled them quickly toward the doorway. He pulled them through the small entryway and quickly shut the door. He opened it again, ever so slightly, just in time to see the group of demons unknowingly pass right by them, laughing and chatting away.

"I think we're in the clear," Terrence whispered.

Dipper and Stan finally exhaled in relief, only then realizing that they had been holding their breath in terror. It was then that the three realized where they were. Although the door had barely been large enough to fit them, the room itself was gargantuan. Shelves that were as tall as skyscrapers and seemed to go on for miles filled the room. It was almost like a library, except instead of books lining the walls, boxes labeled with names, numbers, dimensions, and other information filled the shelves.

"What is this place?" Stan breathed.

"It must be some sort of storage room," Terrence responded. "Y'know, to keep the confiscated belongings of the prisoners."

"Yeah, but how is it so big? It looked tiny from the outside."

Terrence shrugged. "Must be demon magic. I can't even begin to understand, much less explain, how that works." As he scanned the room, his face lit up upon noticing a small stack of weapons in the corner. "All right, Demon-Zappers! Now we're in business."

"What are these things?" Dipper asked. He and Stan looked at Terrence, who looked like a giddy kid on Christmas morning, in wonder.

"These, my friends, are our defense." Terrence picked one up and examined with glee. It was a long rod with some tubes carrying a brilliant blue liquid attached to the side and a trigger on the bottom. "They work just like guns. We spent years of research developing these. Trust me guys, with these bad boys on our side, those demons are gonna be running for the hills."

"Now we're talking!" A grin that Dipper hadn't seen in a long time crossed Stan's face as he picked up a Demon-Zapper. "I just haven't felt the same since I've been away from my ten guns back home. Not enough protection, y'know?" Terrence rolled his eyes, smiling, as the two continued to talk about the weapons.

Dipper wasn't listening anymore, though. He had begun to wander through the shelves, scanning the labels for the only name he cared about. Something in his gut was telling him that Mabel's things were in here, and three shelves later on the second row from the bottom, he discovered his instinct was right. The label on the box he found read,

Mabel Pines, age 12. Subject 621, Earth dimension.

Dipper's breath caught in his chest as he took the box from its place on the shelf and opened the lid.

He couldn't believe it. Everything in this box screamed 'Mabel'. A miniature hot glue gun, one of Waddles' leashes, some of that chalky-sugary candy that Mabel kept with her at all times, and a lot more; even her grappling hook was there, her initials monogrammed on the side in multicolored rhinestones. As he looked through the box, Dipper felt a lump grow in his throat. The longer he looked at everything in the box, the more he missed his sister with a burning pain. Although with that longing came a sense of purpose. It refueled Dipper's passion and his drive to get his sister back, no matter what it took. He took Mabel's grappling hook and a picture of him and Mabel from earlier in the summer from the box and reluctantly slid it back into its place on the shelf.

Terrence, meanwhile, figured it couldn't hurt to check and see if they were clear to keep moving. If they wanted to stop Diablo, save Mabel, and scram, they needed to avoid the hordes of demons wandering around the corridors as much as possible. 'They're probably gone by now, right?' Terrence thought to himself. 'It's been a good few minutes. And it's a huge castle. How many demons could there be?'

He had no idea what he was in for. As soon as he slightly stuck his head out of the doorway to check, he was met with a shocking sight. Swarms of demons passed through the halls, coming and going in all directions. Demons of all colors floated by, unaware for the moment that a terrified young man was standing just a few feet away, trying his hardest not to collapse in sheer terror. As Terrence slowly slipped his head back through the doorway and shut the door tight, a feeling of dreaded certainty washed over him, as he finally realized and accepted what needed to happen next.

"Terrence?" Dipper said urgently, startling Terrence into turning around. He had found his way back from the shelves, and now he stood next to his great-uncle, a look of nervousness and concentration etched on both of their faces. "Is the coast clear? Can we keep going?"

Terrence sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. "Look, guys, I think we have a problem. There are tons of demons out there, way too many to avoid. There's no way we could make it out there soon without being noticed, and we don't have a whole lot of time to waste."

"What are you saying?" Dipper asked shakily, panic beginning to rise in his heart.

"I'm saying-" Terrence took a deep breath before he continued. "There's no easy way to say this, but I think we need to find a way out of this castle. Get back to the campsite, find all the other humans, and plan a more coherent attack. I think that's the only option at this point."

Dipper's heart dropped. "WHAT?"

Terrence bit his lip, seeing the look of fear forming on the 12-year-old's face.

"Dipper, I'm sorry. You know I want to help you save Mabel so badly, but I'm worried that if we stay here and we try to get to her, we won't make it over there alive."

"But you PROMISED! You promised me we would get to her, no matter what!"

"Dipper-"

"No! We have to get to her! I don't care what could happen! I am NOT letting my sister die down here!"

Stan put a hand on Dipper's shoulder. "Dipper, as much as I hate to accept this, Terrence is right. We have to-"

Dipper was in shock. He figured if anyone would support him in this, it would be his great-uncle, who had grown to love Mabel just as much as he did. "Grunkle Stan, how could you say that?"

"Look, Dipper, I completely understand. We all want to see her alive, more than anything. But we're not gonna do her any good if we're dead or captured again. We need more numbers if we wanna get Mabel and those poor other kids out of here alive."

"But-"

"Dipper, please."

Dipper was too shocked to speak. He couldn't believe what he was hearing. All along, Terrence and Stan had told him they were willing to do anything to stop Diablo and save Mabel as soon as possible. So how could they go back on that now when they were so close to getting her back?! He didn't know what else to do, so he sighed in agreement.

"Alright then," Stan sighed. "What do we have to do, Terrence?"

"First off, it's important that we do NOT lose these cloaks. They have the capabilities to deflect a demon attack, but only once. They lose their power after getting hit. Hopefully if we do get hit, we'll be lucky enough to get the hell out of there before we get hit again. Now, about getting out of here. Stan, you got any ideas?"

Dipper backed up, feeling like he wasn't really needed in this planning process. Not that he wanted to be anyway; he thought they should be planning something different altogether. They should have been figuring out how to get to his twin sister, not figuring out how to get back to where they started! Part of Dipper told him that he was overreacting about this, and part of him did agree with Terrence and Stan. They were older, after all, and they could think more rationally than Dipper could. But this wasn't just their lives on the line; this was Mabel, this was his TWIN SISTER's life on the line. Mabel was his best friend, the only person he would trust with no second thoughts at all. There was no way he was leaving her now, not when they were closer than they'd ever been to getting her back!

No. He couldn't leave, he wouldn't. He was getting to his sister today, even if it was the last thing he did. Dipper silently crept over to the pile of Demon-Zappers and, slipping one under his cloak, opened the door to the hallway. He looked back at his uncle and friend, talking and planning their next move, and a wave of guilt swept over him. Maybe this wasn't the right idea. Maybe it was wrong to leave them behind; maybe he needed to stay with them.

Then he felt his sister's grappling hook in the pocket of his cloak brush against his side, and he shook the guilt aside, slipping through the doorway and silently closing the door behind him.


	13. Looking Through You

_Author's Note_

 _Happy August everyone!_

 _I know, I promised an update a lot sooner than this. It's just been a very busy summer, with getting over a breakup and visiting family and TONS of AP summer work for my classes next year. I feel so bad for not updating sooner!_

 _To make it up to you, I'm posting this chapter, where things start to get interesting for the Pineses. I've only got a few chapters left in this story, and I plan on finishing it out strong!_

 _Also I got the Journal 3 a few weeks ago (incredible, by the way. 10/10) and I realized that it kinda makes the Dreamscape created in this story not make much sense. But whatever! This story has completely taken on a life of its own, and since I first started writing it more than a year ago, a lot of it doesn't make sense with the current GF canon. I just figure it's kinda an AU-ish story by now. Don't hate me too much for it!_

 _Thank you so much for the comments, likes and follows! You guys help me so much by liking and commenting on my work, and it means so very very much to me!_

 _(By the way, the title of this chapter comes from one of my favorite Beatles songs that goes by the same name)_

 _Here's Chapter 13!_

* * *

Dipper had been scared plenty of times in his life. He wasn't ashamed to admit it. Like when he and a few of his friends had decided one Halloween a few years ago to wander the woods on the edge of town and he had somehow gotten separated. Or when Mabel fell off the roof that Christmas and their parents had to take her to the ER, all while she was yelling and screaming in pain. Or every instance this summer when some monster had tried to kill him and Mabel. Dipper usually felt helpless when he was scared; he usually felt that there was no way to get out of a given situation, at least until he thought it out a little bit.

That was kinda how Dipper felt while he hurried through the halls of the Center Castle by himself, with a Demon-Zapper under his cloak and the fear of God in his heart. The only difference between other times and now was, normally when Dipper was afraid he could hide it and at least pretend to be brave. Now, as he hid behind pillars to avoid demons and scanned the numbers of the cells he passed, he couldn't begin to hide how terrified he felt.

Dipper had been weaving through the hallways for fifteen minutes since he had snuck away from Stan and Terrence. He now knew exactly why Terrence had said there were far too many demons to avoid; he'd had to stop practically every two seconds just to hide from some new demon wandering the halls. When he wasn't hiding, though, he was running as fast as he could. He knew he didn't exactly have too much time to air to the side of caution. Mabel needed him, and he had a feeling she needed him soon. Hell, she needed him a long time ago, and Dipper couldn't afford to waste any more time.

When he reached the cells somewhere in the mid-500s, Dipper had to stop again behind a pillar to avoid a group of demons holding clipboards and laughing. Just as he was preparing to start running again, a room to his right caught his eye. Just outside the room, two demons went by, a little redheaded boy who looked about his age encased in purple fire floating limply between them. They entered the room, leaving the door open behind them just enough for Dipper to see what was inside. What he saw made his blood run cold. He saw beds with people lying motionless on them, and he saw large black bags with something that gave him a sick feeling in his stomach when he realized what it was. He realized that he was looking at what he could only assume was a morgue, although he couldn't look at it for more than a few seconds. It just hurt too much; both the fact that this is what those sick demons were doing to people, and that this could be what happened to his twin if he didn't get to her soon.

Dipper got moving again just as soon as he could. After seeing that room, he ran about ten times faster. He had to get to Mabel, like, YESTERDAY, and he didn't care what it took. About five minutes later, he finally saw some good luck. He almost outran it, but there it was: cell number 621, where they were keeping his sister, and it was- empty?

"What?" Dipper muttered in disbelief. This couldn't be happening. He was so close to her, so close to getting his sister back! So where was she? She had to be here, unless-

"You must be young Dipper Pines." A low, snake-like voice said behind him.

Dipper had seen what seemed like millions of terrifying, deadly monsters during his time in Gravity Falls, but none of his experiences this summer could have prepared him for the sight of the demon that floated before him. He was huge; he looked to be at least half of the Converter's size. Inky black flames spouted from him, and his venomous yellow eyes seemed to pierce their way through Dipper's resolve and bravery. This, Dipper could only assume, was the dreaded Diablo: the demon that had a dictatorial hold over the Dreamscape. Diablo was not alone, however; on his left was a red, circular, nervous looking demon that Dipper didn't recognize, and on his right, with an evil look in his eye-

"Bill!" Dipper hissed. "You monster! I'll kill you for what you did to all those people!"

Bill found Dipper's anger to be hilarious. He laughed his familiar, painful laugh as Dipper only grew angrier, turning his attention to Diablo.

"Uh, Diablo, right?" Dipper felt himself trembling, his fear overloading his entire body, but he was determined not to let Diablo see that. "Where's my sister? How did you know we'd be here?"

"How do you think? When I was informed that there was a prison break, it was too easy to deduce that you would come for the Pines girl first. You humans are far too predictable," Diablo chuckled evilly. "You know, I was wondering when I would get to meet the famous Dipper Pines. You're a popular recurring character in Ms. Pines' dreams."

Dipper snarled at his sister's captor. He knew that Diablo was trying to taunt him, and unfortunately it was working. His breathing sped up rapidly as he struggled to contain himself. It was taking everything he had not to lunge at the demon, although he knew that would do far more harm than good. "I know what you're doing to her," He growled, anger stinging in his voice. "I've heard about and seen what you do to people here. You're a monster. You all are!"

At that moment, Diablo began to laugh. It began as a low, evil chuckle, and progressed into a diabolical, terrifying laugh. At this sight, Bill began to screech with laughter, and the red demon nervously laughed. "Oh, I've only just begun. You think simply harvesting the dreams and energy from your sister is the worst I can do? Ha ha HA! I can do things to her that you wouldn't wish on your worst enemy!"

"I swear to you, Diablo, if you so much as touch her, I'm gonna-"

"Of course, there's one thing you're failing to realize, Mr. Pines. There are things that can be so much more painful than physical harm or death." Diablo flashed a crooked, nasty grin at Dipper, turning to the red demon next to him. "Alvin, you know what to do."

Alvin's expression formed what looked like a grimace as he snapped his fingers, a purple ball of fire appearing in front of him. It remained for a few seconds and then disappeared, leaving a familiar, worn, thin-looking twelve year old girl standing there, her eyes closed as if she was sleepwalking. Dipper's heart leaped at the sight. It was his twin standing in front of him! Part of him felt uneasy, as he was unsure why Diablo would hand Mabel over that easily, but that part was overruled by the fact that she was here, and ALIVE.

"MABEL!" Dipper cried happily as he rushed to her side, grabbing her gently by the shoulders so he could see her face. "Sis, it's me, it's Dipper!"

Mabel's eyelids rose slowly to look at her brother, but something strange happened when she saw Dipper. Her normally brown eyes mysteriously changed color to an eerily-bright purple, and her face became much more wild. Dipper was extremely confused, it was like he was looking at a completely different person.

"Mabel?" He felt a sinking feeling in his stomach. "Mabel, what did they do to you?"

She then recognized the boy in front of her. Her face contorted, and she let out a primal shriek, tackling her brother to the ground. Dipper struggled under her weight; she was much stronger than him, even in this malnourished state. Mabel looked at her brother angrily, hissing, "You're not going to hurt me, you doofus! Understand? I WON'T LET YOU HURT ME ANYMORE!"

Those words were like a bullet straight to Dipper's heart. He didn't know what was going on, but he could only assume that the nightmares Diablo and his cronies had been torturing Mabel with had made her believe that Dipper was out to get her. And those nightmares could not have been further from the truth. "Mabel, listen to me-!" He tried fighting against her, but Mabel was clearly out for what she believed was vengeance. They rolled around the concrete floor wrestling against each other, as Dipper fought hard to protect himself against her scratches and bites and punches. Although he tried, he didn't make much progress; Mabel got in quite a few good swipes at him.

"Yes! YES!" Diablo yelled gleefully. "She will hurt him so bad, he'll think she doesn't love him anymore! Then we can get ahold of him!" He and Bill laughed maniacally at the sight of the fight. "Those humans won't even stand a chance!"

Alvin stared at the quarreling siblings with pain in his heart. He had followed Diablo for years; he knew that Diablo was evil, but he didn't know he could be this heartless! To tear apart two siblings who had presumably been each other's best friends for their entire lives! It seemed unfathomable to him. Alvin had done a lot of things over the years that he wasn't proud of, especially with the operation of the Converter, but one line he was not willing to cross was family. He cared for his family more than anything, and he was shocked that Diablo was doing this to a family.

It was around this time that Alvin realized something. He realized that Diablo truly had no conscience and no regard for others' lives. He only cared for his own personal gain; he didn't care for the lives of his employees or anyone else. Alvin also realized that he couldn't continue to support a demon who had such little care for others. He realized that now was the time to stop the madness, or at least attempt to stop it. It may be mutiny, but he at least had to try and stick up for what he felt was right. And the first step was to help the kids who were wrestling on the floor a few feet away from him.

"I'm not gonna fight you, Mabel!" Dipper grunted. "I would never hurt you! You've gotta believe that!"

"Oh yeah, that's why you've tried to kill me a million times since I've been here, right?" Mabel's sarcastic tone in the midst of her attack made Dipper smile; even though these demons had tricked her into thinking horrible things about the people who cared about her, she still had some of her old self in there somewhere. This got Dipper thinking: if that part of her was still there, maybe he could try and snap her out of this horrific trance!

"Mabel, we've always been there for each other!" He stuttered as Mabel continued to pin his arms to the ground. "This entire summer it's just been you and me- against monsters, against people, against the whole world! Don't you remember any of that?"

Mabel still wore a furious look on her face as Dipper spoke, but he saw her eyes briefly turn back to their normal shade before they became that ghastly purple again. This was a good sign- it meant that his sister was still in there somewhere, struggling to be freed.

"Mabel, please," Dipper pleaded.

"NO!" Mabel yelled, twisting Dipper's arm. "You've done nothing but hurt me this entire time! You said I was dead to you! You said you HATED me! You said you couldn't trust me! Why would anyone who cared for me do that to me?"

"That wasn't me! It was just a dream!" The twins wrestled around until Dipper was pinning Mabel down. "Mabel, c'mon. I don't know how to make you believe me, but you just have to. We're the Mystery Twins."

That name sparked something in Mabel. Her face shifted from anger to disbelief, and the purple faded from her eyes to reveal the same chocolate brown that Dipper's eyes were. Mabel looked up at her twin with tears in her eyes. "Dipper?" She breathed in realization.

The two were suddenly engulfed in a purple flame, and Dipper only had time to smile slightly before they both lost consciousness.


	14. Reunion

**Author's Note**

Happy (late) new year everyone!  
I know it's been, like, a million years since I updated last, and I'm really sorry about that! Life's been hijacking my plans a lot lately, and things have been piling up for me to do! I'm gonna try as hard as I can to update more often.  
Enjoy!

* * *

The first thing Dipper noticed when he came to was an intense headache. He groaned, lifting his head to his hands, and he sat up onto his elbow. He was about to scan his surroundings when he was startled by a nasally voice behind him.

"Don't worry; the headache's normal after a hypnosis trance."

Dipper spun around to face the voice, not sure if he should be ready to fight something or run for his life. Instead he saw the red circular demon who had been with Diablo- Alvin, he thought- with his back to him and a light blue flame sprouting from his hands. "What... What's going on? Where am I?" He asked the demon, not fully sure if he'd get a response. After all, this was a DEMON he was dealing with, and he wasn't sure if this was gonna end in some form of bizarre mutilation.

"Storage closet. Near the Converter. I had to knock both of you out so I could convince Diablo you had collapsed of exhaustion. That way I had an excuse to get you away from there."

"Wha-" Dipper was beyond confused. This was a demon, right? One of the monsters that had kidnapped countless children- including his own SISTER- to fuel their sick dimension? Why in God's name would a demon be trying to help him and- MABEL! Where was she? Had Alvin taken him away and left Mabel to suffer in the hands of Bill and Diablo? "Where's my sister?"

Alvin didn't answer. From what Dipper could tell, he was muttering something in a language Dipper couldn't recognize over the flames that he was creating. But why?

"Hey, you! Didn't you hear me? I'm talking to you!" Dipper shakily rose to his feet, still dizzy from the trance, and stumbled over to Alvin. "Where is- Mabel!"

There she was, encapsulated in the blue flames that Alvin was creating. She was still unconscious, and from the looks of it, she wasn't breathing much. Which was a sight that Dipper did not respond well to. "HEY! What are you doing to her? Back away!"

Alvin gave Dipper a terrifying glare, one that made Dipper squeak with fear. "I'm removing the trance that Diablo placed over your sister."

Dipper swallowed nervously. "Trance?"

"Yes. Diablo cast a fear trance over Subject 621 so she would fear all other humans and try to annihilate you on sight. It's an incredibly powerful trance, so it may take some time to undo. Now step aside."

"You have done this before, right, uh... Alvin?" Dipper raised an eyebrow skeptically at Alvin.

A sheepish look appeared on Alvin's face. "Well, not exactly... no. But I've studied trances extensively, and I've memorized how to cast and undo trances. It should be fine. Now stand aside. I have work to do."

Dipper couldn't believe his ears. He was supposed to entrust his sister's fate with a demon who had never undone a trance before? "Wait just a minute, man. You've never done this before? How do I know you won't screw it up and like, erase Mabel's mind or something?"

"Stand aside," Alvin's patient tone became increasingly irritated. "I know what I'm doing."

"Only because you read about it! This is my sister we're talking about! Why should I trust you with saving her, anyway? You've been trying to kill her for weeks!"

"I SAID STAND ASIDE!" Alvin roared, and Dipper shut up immediately. "And you don't know the half of it! If it wasn't for me, your sister would have died a long time ago, boy!"

Shock filled Dipper's entire body, and he took a step backward. "What... what did you say?" He sputtered.

"I'm sure you remember the DVD we sent you of Subject 621's dreams, yes?"

How could Dipper forget it? He had watched his sister go through torture; that DVD was probably something Dipper would never forget, no matter how hard he tried.

"Well, before we filmed the DVD, Diablo had entirely different plans for her. He originally planned to keep the dream the same, except he wanted to let your sister bleed out on camera while you and your family watched. It was me who convinced him to keep her alive, boy! I told Diablo that her dreams could give the Converter enough power to keep the Dreamscape running for decades. Luckily, he believed me, and he let me patch her up afterwards."

Dipper breathed shakily and heavily. Man, Diablo was gonna make him watch his own sister's death? He couldn't believe it. Dipper had seen a lot of messed-up crap since he'd been in the Dreamscape, but absolutely nothing in the universe would have been more painful or horrifying than that. Just the thought was like a punch to Dipper's stomach. "What- why would you want to save her?"

Alvin sighed as he continued to work. "You may not believe this, but I have a family too. And I know I would be absolutely crushed if anything happened to them. Family is... It's one of the most important things in the universe to me. I've done a lot of things that I desperately wish I could take back while I've been under Diablo's care, but I would never purposely tear apart a family. And when I saw that Diablo wasn't afraid to annihilate your twin and your family- that was the last straw for me."

"Wow." Dipper came closer to Alvin, flashing him a soft smile. "I just- I don't know how to thank you, man. Mabel's the most important person in the whole world to me and I just... I wanna thank you for giving her back to me."

Alvin looked over at the grateful twelve-year-old standing next to him. He could tell that Dipper was trying to act mature and calm-well, as calm as one can be when his sister has been abducted by an insane demon overlord- but he was failing. Alvin could easily see the fear and innocence etched all over the boy's face, and to be quite frank, it broke his heart a little. Granted, if any other demon, even, God forbid, Diablo, found out that he felt sympathy for a weak, feeble-minded 12-year-old human, he would be cast out of this dimension faster than you could say treason. But Alvin had stopped caring what the other demons and his boss thought of him a long time ago. He was done ruining lives under Diablo's watch. So done.

After a few more minutes, Alvin finished his incantation and released his fiery grip on Dipper's sister. Both the demon and the boy watched her in anticipation, praying that she would open her eyes and be back to her normal self. Well, anyway, half of that happened at first. Dipper nudged her softly and she stirred, opening her eyes slowly and groaning. Dipper smiled lightly, sighing in relief. But his smile faded when she inched away from him.

"Dipper?" Mabel squeaked, almost sounding frightened of him.

He couldn't understand why she was afraid of him. She was his twin; they'd lived together, played together, and been best friends for their entire lives! Didn't she know that he would never in a million years try to hurt her? "It's me, Mabel," he said hesitantly, "It's Dipper."

She stayed silent, but the fear still remained in her eyes as they darted to Alvin, standing next to Dipper.

"It's okay, Mabel," Dipper said soothingly. "Alvin's not gonna hurt you. He's the reason we're together again. He saved your life!"

The mask of fear still remained frozen on Mabel's face as she stared Dipper dead in the eyes. "How... How do I know that you're not like the others?"

"The others?"

"They- they always acted the same. They would pretend they cared, that they were sorry for everything that happened down there, in the basement. Then they stopped; they took it all back and- they hurt me. Badly." She sucked in a breath, trying to contain her composure. "How do I know you're not gonna do the same thing?"

Dipper swallowed thickly. He couldn't really describe what he was feeling; it was somewhere between rage and melancholy. He felt an intense, burning rage at Diablo for making his sister go through all that crap, and at the same time he felt a deep sadness with her, with everything she had experienced in her time here. He knelt down so he could face Mabel, looking her straight in the eyes.

"Listen to me, Mabel." He lifted her head with his hand. "I can't begin to know what's happened to you here. I've only heard bits and pieces, and what I've heard is messed up, sis. I'm so sorry that I wasn't there to protect you from it. And I can't promise you that I'll protect you from everything from here on in, because I'm not perfect, and you know that. But I swear, I'm gonna try my hardest to. I'm gonna protect you from as much as I can, just like you protect me from bullies at school and the weird things in Gravity Falls. Because you're my sister, and my twin, and my best friend, and- as much as I hate to say it- you're the Alpha Twin. But you've gotta trust me if we wanna get out of here. Grunkle Stan is waiting for us somewhere, and you need to trust that we will keep you safe from now on, okay? Will you rejoin the Mystery Twins?"

Mabel stayed silent for a minute, scanning Dipper's face for any dishonesty or any sign that this was like her dreams. Meanwhile Dipper held his breath in anticipation, hoping with all his might that she believed him. After what seemed like an eternity to Dipper, Mabel smiled tearily and replied, "You know it, Bro-Bro."

Dipper couldn't help but laugh in joy as he grinned and pulled his twin in for a long awaited hug. For a moment, it didn't even register in Dipper's mind that they were in the basement of a genocidal dream factory and they were probably being hunted by a demon who wouldn't hesitate to blast them off the face of the earth if he found them. For that small moment, it was just him and Mabel in a little time-defiant bubble. Dipper knew that soon they would have to get moving again, but for right now he really didn't care. They Mystery Twins were finally back in action, and for that one infinitesimal moment, that was all that mattered.


End file.
